Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft has become the last major supplier of petrol to Venezuela, propping up President Nicolás Maduro’s regime as the US intensifies economic pressure on Caracas, according to people familiar with the shipping arrangement. The lifeline has given Moscow unprecedented leverage over the crisis-hit South American nation, frustrating efforts by Washington and the EU to push the socialist president out and make way for opposition leader Juan Guaidó, the Financial Times reports.
Data seen by the Financial Times show that Rosneft supplied Venezuela’s entire imports of petrol in June, as other suppliers fell away. Eight cargos of petrol totalling 1.7m barrels arranged by Rosneft Trading, the company’s Geneva-based trading arm, were loaded in ship-to-ship transfers carried out offshore near Malta, Gibraltar and Aruba, the documents show.
The tankers then headed for Venezuelan ports, where the petrol was delivered to PDVSA, Venezuela’s state oil company. Publicly available satellite shipping signals, collated by oil analytics company Vortexa, confirmed that the deliveries had taken place. It is unclear whether the companies supplying Rosneft with the cargoes, some of which originated in ports in the Netherlands as well as Greece and Turkey before being transferred at sea, were aware they were destined for Venezuela. “Venezuela’s gasoline supplies depend on Russia,” said a person familiar with the supply deal. “The day Russia stops supplying gasoline, Venezuela grinds to a halt.” Another person with knowledge of the shipments said they were “a purely commercial operation” based on “previously agreed contracts”.
While there is no suggestion that Rosneft has breached US sanctions against Venezuela — the measures apply to US individuals and businesses — the supply arrangement makes Rosneft, and the Kremlin, one of the single biggest hurdles to US plans to spur regime change in Caracas. Washington and the EU have recognised Mr Guaidó, the president of the National Assembly, as Venezuela’s rightful interim leader pending free elections.
Venezuela used to refine its own petrol but years of neglect and under-investment, as well as plunging domestic crude production, have made the country dependent on imports. There are now supply shortages and long queues at fuel stations in most parts of the country. The 1.7m barrels supplied by Rosneft Trading in June correspond to a supply of about 56,000 barrels per day, or about a quarter of Venezuela’s petrol consumption two years ago. In January, before the imposition of US sanctions on PDVSA, Venezuela was buying petrol from a range of overseas suppliers including Spain’s Repsol, data show. Repsol confirmed that the company had stopped supplying petrol to Venezuela.
Read more on The Financial Times / Maltatoday / Times
