Venezuelan crude diverts away from China
Vortexa Snapshot: Venezuelan crude diverts away from China
24 October, 2019
In Brief:
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Four tankers currently carrying Venezuelan crude that were previously broadcasting destinations in China have revised their declarations either to India, or to Malaysia’s Malacca, in the past few days.
- The VLCC Maran Triton and Suezmax Maran Helios both revised their destinations to India’s Sikka on 17 and 21 October, respectively, after declaring China’s Shandong, earlier in their voyage. They are now estimated to arrive at Sikka during the first half of November. October arrivals of Venezuelan crude into India, meanwhile, are expected at around 8.5mn bl, their highest levels since June.
- Indian refiners have been able to source crude from Venezuela, in exchange for supplying permitted products such as diesel to Venezuela, as compliant with US sanctions.
- Two other Venezuelan crude-laden tankers also recently updated their destinations to Malacca, Malaysia – where they are now anchored – having earlier indicated specific ports in China. China has continued importing Venezuelan crude in recent months, including via ship-to-ship operations in Malaysian waters.
- The Rosneft-chartered VLCC Delta Angelica was originally signalling China’s Yantai after departing from Jose Terminal in early September. It changed its destination to ‘for orders’, and subsequently, to Malacca on 18 October. The Aframax Ace also loaded from Jose in early-September and began declaring Malacca on 17 October, after signalling for Ningbo earlier in its journey.
