Page 8 - LatAmOil Week 08 2020

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US government seeks to put more pressure on Venezuelan oil sector
THE US government is looking to tighten restrictions on trade with Venezuela even fur- ther in the hope of discouraging co-operation with PdVSA, the national oil company (NOC), and the purchase of Venezuelan crude oil.
Elliot Abrams, the US special representative for Venezuela, told Reuters earlier this week that the administration of President Donald Trump was determined to put more pressure on Nicolas Maduro, the incumbent president of the South American state. “The president has made a deci- sion to push harder on the Venezuelan oil sector, and we’re going to do it,” he said. “And what we’re telling people involved in this sector is that they should get out of it.”
He also indicated that Washington was ready to impose sanctions on companies other than Rosneft Trading, a subsidiary of the state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft that has been active in trading Venezuelan crude. The admin- istration wants to survey the entire supply chain so that it can identify Caracas’ partners in the oil trade, he stated.
The US government’s plan, Abrams explained, is to target entities that continue to purchase Venezuelan crude and to penalise companies that act as intermediaries for PdVSA, helping it to bring oil to market while disguising its origins, he explained. This process will not just involve Rosneft and other Russian com- panies but will also scrutinise Asian firms with direct and indirect ties to PdVSA, he added.
“Rosneft Trading is a middleman. What about the customers who are mainly in Asia? We will be talking with them,” he said. “So it isn’t a Russia-focused campaign. It’s focused on the critical points in the petroleum sector from pro- duction to shipping to the customers.”
He continued: “What people do is switch from one company to another, so the company that takes the oil may flip it to another company that ships the oil, flip it to another company that sells the oil. We follow all of that. We are going to follow up with the companies that are engaged in this and we are going to sanction them.”
The list of likely candidates for penalties under the sanctions regime includes Chinese companies that buy Venezuelan crude from third parties in this fashion, he told Reuters. He also reported, though, that Washington would issue warnings first rather than taking punitive action right away.
Sister companies
Abrams was speaking shortly after reports emerged that another Rosneft subsidiary appeared to be taking charge of Venezuelan oil shipments.
Bloomberg, citing data gleaned from ship- ping reports, said earlier this week that Rosneft Trading had backed away from PdVSA and had not handled any Venezuelan crude since Janu- ary 29. At the same time, though, a sister com- pany known as TNK Trading International has begun handling larger volumes of Venezuelan oil, it said.
The firm is slated to load 14.3mn barrels in the South American country in the first two months of 2020, the news agency noted. This is nearly three times the figure of 5mn barrels reported for the whole of 2019.
TNK Trading International is not currently subject to US sanctions. The company has been under Rosneft’s control since late 2017 and is registered at the same address in Geneva as Ros- neft Trading, Bloomberg said. ™
Elliot Abrams, US special representative for Venezuela (Photo: VOA)
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