The US authorities is seemingly contemplating permitting US Oil firms to renew restricted operations in Venezuela. This was reported by 5 sources acquainted with the matter, Commerzbank’s commodity analyst Carsten Fritsch notes.
US Oil inventories are at present nicely beneath the five-year common
“As underneath former US President Biden, licenses are to be issued for this function. US President Trump had stopped this follow firstly of his second time period. Because of this, US imports of crude Oil and Oil merchandise from Venezuela fell to 175,000 barrels per day in April, after standing at round 300,000 barrels per day on the flip of the yr.”
“Earlier than sanctions had been imposed on the Maduro regime throughout Trump’s first time period in 2019, US Oil imports from Venezuela amounted to greater than 600,000 barrels per day. Trump’s obvious U-turn may very well be as a result of tight provide state of affairs within the US. US crude Oil inventories are at present nicely beneath the five-year common.”
“As well as, there’s a scarcity of heavy crude Oil with excessive sulfur content material, which US refineries want as an additive to gentle, low-sulfur US shale Oil for processing. Oil from Venezuela meets this requirement. Oil exports from Venezuela are to be dealt with by way of swaps to stop the export revenues from ending up in Venezuela’s coffers. It stays to be seen whether or not Venezuela will conform to this.”
