MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuela's oil exports almost doubled in November from the previous month as new customers linked to a Russian trading firm stepped in to boost purchases from state-run PDVSA amid US sanctions, reported Reuters with reference to data from the firm and Refinitiv Eikon.
In October, PDVSA's established customers suspended swaps of Venezuelan crude for fuel at Washington's request, leading to a sharp decline in exports, but in November a growing group of new buyers stepped in to bring Venezuela's exports back to around the average level for this year, the data showed.
A total of 24 cargoes left Venezuelan waters last month carrying some 639,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and refined products, according to the data, an increase from the 360,000 bpd exported in October.
Their main destination was Asia, where trans-shipment of Venezuelan crude between tankers at sea frequently occurs before the oil reaches its final destination, principally China.
More than half of Venezuela's exports in November were received by new buyers including Xiamen Logistic Grass, Olympia Stly Trading, Zaguhan & Co, Karaznbas, Kalinin Business International and Poseidon GDL Solutions, the data revealed.
These customers were registered in Russia this year by Moscow-based OGX Trading.
Most vessels chartered by these companies navigated to Venezuela with their transponders disconnected, a technique known as a "dark voyage". They have switched their signal on again after departing, the Eikon data showed.
A handful of them were also misidentified by PDVSA using the names of scrapped tankers, according to its loading schedules.
PDVSA and Venezuela's oil ministry did not immediately reply to requests for comment. OGX Trading told Reuters in late October the company had been unable to start business due to the coronavirus.
The November exports also included two large cargoes of heavy crude taken by a firm called Cirrostrati Technology Co LTD onboard two tankers owned by state-run PetroChina.
Meanwhile, exports to Cuba - a close ally of Venezuela - declined to 47,300 bpd, from 104,000 bpd in October.
As oil exports in November returned to this year's average of around 650,000 bpd, Venezuela's fuel imports declined sharply to 21,000 bpd after two diesel cargoes were delivered by India's Reliance Industries to PDVSA before winding down its trade with Venezuela.
As MRC wrote before, in late October 2020, Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela restarted gasoline production at the FCC unit of its 310,000 bpd Cardon refinery. The unit was producing between 15,000 and 20,000 bpd of gasoline, according to union leader Ivan Freites. PDVSA earlier last week of October began producing at least 25,000 bpd of gasoline at Cardon’s reformer unit.
MRC also reported that Russian state oil company Rosneft's decision to cease operations in Venezuela and sell its assets there to a Russian government-owned company was a "maneuver" made in reaction to collapsing oil prices, a US State Department official said earlier this year.
We remind that Angarsk Polymers Plant, part of Russian oil giant Rosneft, has resumed its low density polyethylene (LDPE) production after an unscheduled shutdown because of a technical issues at the ethylene unit. The plant"s customers said Angarsk Polymers Plant had brought on-stream its LDPE production by 28 August after the forced shutdown due to technical problems at its ethylene production. And the first shipments of polyethylene (PE) to customers began on 31 August. The outage lasted slightly over two weeks and began on 10 August The plant"s annual production capacity is about 75,000 tonnes.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, September estimated LDPE consumption in Russia fell to 23,930 tonnes from 47,610 tonnes a month earlier. Russian producers reduced their domestic LDPE shipments due to shutdowns for maintenance at production capacities in Ufa, Tomsk and Kazan. Russia's estimated LDPE consumption totalled about 406,500 tonnes in January-September 2020, which virtually corresponded to the last year's figure.
MRC