Page 9 - EurOil Week 45 2022

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

PdVSA set to deliver two cargoes

of oil to Eni in November

VENEZUELA VENEZUELA’S national oil company (NOC) to deliver 3.6mn barrels of DCO to Eni in June
PdVSA is set to deliver two cargoes of diluted and July of this year. Eni swapped most of those
Both cargoes will ail crude oil (DCO) to a subsidiary of Eni (Italy) this volumes – 3mn barrels, or more than 83% of the
from Venezuela to the month, Reuters reported on November 7. total – with Spain’s Repsol because it could not
Spanish port of Bilbao. Citing a document from PdVSA, the news process the heavier feedstock at its own refiner-
agency noted that each of the cargoes will consist ies. Repsol, by contrast, was able to handle the
of around 1mn barrels of DCO. It reported that Venezuelan oil because its own complex refiner-
the Eni unit was scheduled to load one of the car- ies in Spain are capable of processing the heavy
goes on a Suezmax tanker known as the Africa, Venezuelan feedstock into petroleum products
which was in Venezuelan waters and waiting to that meet EU emissions standards.
load as of November 7. The company will then Repsol’s CEO Josu Jon Imaz hailed this devel-
load the other cargo on a second Suezmax tanker opment, saying in late July that it had helped his
known as the Gladiator, which is slated to dis- company gain access to a much-needed new
charge its current load at a US port and then sail stream of feedstock. “The return of cargoes from
to Venezuela, later in the month, Refinitiv Eikon Venezuela is good news for our refining [busi-
shipping data show. ness] as the quality of those crudes matches per-
Both cargoes will sail from Venezuela to the fectly with the high complexity of our system ...
Spanish port of Bilbao, according to the PdVSA We will have a higher capacity to fill our cokers,
document viewed by Reuters. probably optimising in a better way the conver-
The news agency described this develop- sion units that we have,” he said at a presentation
ment as a sign of the resumption of an oil-for- on Repsol’s second-quarter results.
debt deal that the US government authorised Three sources familiar with the matter told
earlier this year, thereby giving PdVSA a way Reuters in August that PdVSA wanted to alter
to clear some of its obligations to foreign joint the deal. They claimed that the NOC was no
venture partners. Washington took this step on longer interested in swapping crude oil for debt
the understanding that these crude shipments to coverage and would prefer to exchange crude oil
Europe would not be subject to penalties under for petroleum product supplies.
the sanctions regime, which aims to discourage As of press time, it was not clear whether the
investment in Venezuela’s oil industry. parties had discussed the possibility of any revi-
This decision gave PdVSA an opportunity sions. ™

Week 45 14•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9