Venezuela oil surpluses find market

Venezuela’s glut of oil inventory appears to be finally draining as the crisis-stricken country managed to send off 800,000 barrels per day of oil for a second month in a row.

But Venezuela’s troubles are far from over. Its list of oil buyers has shrunk to a handful of loyal takers who are unwilling to kowtow to US pressure in the form of sanctions. The list includes China, Russia, and Cuba for the most part, although India’s Reliance has recently resumed Venezuela oil imports as well.

For now, it seems, this has been enough to lift the Latin America’s oil exports to 812,775 barrels per day, and enough to drain some of its excess inventory that have filled its storage to the brim and caused a blending unit, Petrosinovensa, to shutter as it had nowhere to put more product.

Venezuela’s October exports were still 3.7 percent below September’s, and well below June’s exports of 1.13 million bpd.

Still, the US sanctions on Venezuela have restricted Venezuela’s output significantly, and many of its customers and tankers hired to move the project have been unwilling to move product, not just because they fear they may find themselves in trouble with the US, but because the banks they rely on are unlikely to continue doing business with anyone even remotely tied to Petrosinovensa or Venezuela.

Petrosinovensa announced plans last month to boost its production in 2020 to 1.2 million bpd, although it did not disclose any details of the plan, other than to suggest it would implement an “austerity campaign” on Petrosinovensa employee expenses.