The maritime contractor Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) is thinking of stopping managing Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA’s tankers by the end of March or during the early days of April, following US sanctions against the country, as Reuters reports.
Due to the previous week’s blackout, Venezuelan PDVSA is unable to resume crude exports at its primary Jose port. Power varied in most of the country because of the blackout, and had President Nicolas Maduro support that it was a US-backed act of sabotage on the country’s principal hydroelectric dam.
The Greek-flagged crude oil tanker ‘Minerva Gloria’ interrupted her voyage as the Greek Master of the vessel fell seriously ill and was in need of immediate medical assistance. The crude oil tanker was sailing from Venezuela to Germany, but instead headed to Azores waiting for the Portugal Air Force transport the Master.
Global Pandi published updates on further restrictions taking place in ports of Venezuela. In the light of the announcement of arrival of the humanitarian aid in Venezuela, the Executive moved forward to close additional maritime borders, except Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire that Venezuela has already closed.
A Venezuelan Navy vessel threatened to open fire on a vessel from Puerto Rico that was carrying humanitarian aid on February 23. The vessel had six US citizens on board. In light of the incident, Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rosselló noted that he informed the US government of the issue.
The crew of Venezuelan oil tanker ‘Rio Arauca’ is set to be dismissed, almost two years after being stuck in the middle of the river Tagus in Lisbon due to unpaid debt, according to managers Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM). The Rio Arauca arrived in Lisbon in May 2017, but has been inactive and unable to dock since then.
Venezuela closed its maritime border with Dutch Caribbean islands, because of the opposition’s plan to bring in humanitarian aid on February 23, in order to alleviate an economic crisis. Namely, the border is closed with the islands of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire. This decision was taken after Curacao said that it would help store aid destined for Venezuela.
BIMCO’s analyst, Mr Peter Sand published its analysis on the tanker market, highlighting that after the downfall the market experienced in October, it made a bounce reaching a peak in late November and early December. As prices were pushed down by all-time high Saudi Arabian crude oil production that peaked at 11.1m barrels per day in November.
UK P&I Club issued a circular concerning the Venezuelan Sanctions the US imposed to PDVSA on January. The Club addressed that PDVSA has been made a target of the US. In the meantime, a number of General Licences have been issued with authorisations of varying duration to allow U.S. citizens to wind down existing business with PdVSA or its subsidiaries.
in 2018, around 450 kb/d was shipped to the US. The decrease in exports also shows the collapse of production over the same period from 3.4 mb/d to about 1.3 mb/d today. In quantity terms, in 2019 the US will rise its crude oil production by more than Venezuela’s current output. In quality terms, it is more complicated, IEA notes.
