PDVSA Revokes Authorization For Chevron To Export Venezuelan Oil

Venezuelan state-owned oil firm PDVSA has revoked authorizations to U.S. supermajor Chevron to load and export crude from Venezuela this month, following the Trump Administration’s increased sanctions on Venezuelan oil exports and tariffs on its oil buyers, Reuters reports, quoting sources familiar with the matter.

The Trump Administration has already revoked Chevron’s license to operate in Venezuela and export oil from its oilfields, with May 27 the deadline for Chevron to wind down its operations in the South American country.

U.S. President Donald Trump has also announced that any country that buys oil or gas from Venezuela will pay a 25% secondary tariff on trades with the United States.

The tariffs stalled trade between Venezuela and China, the biggest buyer of oil from Venezuela. However, loadings to China have resumed this week, according to Reuters’s sources.

The cancellations of the authorizations to Chevron by PDVSA are the first impact the U.S. supermajor sees from the U.S.-Venezuela standoff because the company has a license until May 27, allowing it to load crude in April.

Two of PDVSA’s cancellations were for tankers that have already loaded crude, so the oil will have to be returned to Venezuela’s ports, the sources told Reuters.

The Trump Administration has also revoked licenses for supermajors Shell and BP and their partners to operate natural gas projects offshore Venezuela that plan to send gas to Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean island’s Prime Minister Stuart Young has said.

Since taking office in January, President Trump has started to tighten the screws on Venezuelan oil industry and exports, revoking Chevron’s license and the licenses of the European firms to export crude from the South American country, which holds the world’s largest crude oil reserves.

The U.S. Treasury has revoked a license for French oil firm Maurel & Prom to operate in Venezuela and is no longer allowing firms including Eni and Repsol to receive oil from Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA in lieu of payments.

Source: Oilprice.com