Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, has begun using tankers to store crude and fuel oil in local waters as onshore storage reaches capacity. The move comes as U.S. actions against Venezuela-linked vessels have left multiple cargoes stranded at sea.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted two fully loaded tankers, the Skipper and Centuries, carrying Venezuelan crude in the Caribbean Sea. A third empty tanker approaching Venezuelan waters was reportedly being pursued.
These measures, aimed at vessels of a so-called “shadow fleet” transporting sanctioned oil, alongside a U.S. blockade of all ships subject to sanctions, have deterred many ship owners, leaving more than a dozen cargoes waiting to depart Venezuelan ports.
The backlog is affecting PDVSA’s Jose terminal, which handles extra heavy crude from the Orinoco Belt, the country’s main oil-producing region.
PDVSA produces around 1.1 million barrels of crude per day, and the terminal’s onshore tanks are quickly filling. Over the past
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