Three of the 11 vessels chartered by Chevron were reported on Thursday as transporting oil from Venezuela to the U.S., according to an AFP analysis of ship-tracking data, amid rising concerns over the South American country’s storage capacity due to export sanctions.
Two additional tankers were anchored at the Bajo Grande refinery port in western Venezuela, while the remaining six were en route to the South American country, as per ship-tracking data collated by Bloomberg and the trade information platform Kpler.
Chevron is the only U.S. company currently operating in Venezuela and has booked the tankers as part of a regular schedule for crude shipments back to the U.S.
While the vessels were in transit, U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Tuesday that Caracas would turn over “30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned crude” to the U.S.
Analysts from Kpler have warned that the U.S. blockade of Venezuelan exports is causing a buildup of oil in storage.
Chevron remains one of the few operators still able to move oil from Venezuela. One of its chartered tankers, the Ionic Anassa, was last recorded passing Cuba on its way to Pascagoula Port in Mississippi, having loaded at Bajo Grande on January 4, according to shipping data published by Bloomberg and Marine Traffic.
The Nave Photon was recorded north of Caracas on Thursday, heading for Port Freeport in Texas after arriving at the Jose terminal in eastern Venezuela on January 5.
It was being closely followed by the Mediterranean Voyager, which also appeared to have picked up a shipment at the Jose terminal, according to the latest displacement data published by Bloomberg.
On Thursday, two vessels, the Minerva Gloria and Searuby, were anchored at Bajo Grande. Gloria appeared to be loaded, while Searuby seemed to be empty. Another six vessels, reported to be empty, were en route to the South American country.
Chevron declined to confirm the movements of the vessels when contacted by AFP, stating only that it “remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees” and that “we continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws.”
Crude oil stocks in Venezuela have been rising since the U.S. seizure of the tanker Skipper on December 10, according to data from Kpler. The latest assessment, based on radar images from December 30, indicates that onshore stocks, particularly in tanks, have exceeded 22 million barrels, nearly half of the country’s storage capacity.
“With loading activity now slowing sharply due to the naval blockade, Kpler analysts expect upcoming radar imagery to show further inventory builds,” said Emmanuel Belostrino, senior analyst at Kpler, in a report sent to AFP.
“Floating” oil storage is also increasing rapidly off the coast of Venezuela, signalling a bottleneck in exports. According to Kpler figures, at least 16.7 million barrels of crude oil were stored on board at least 15 large tankers, which are being used as temporary reservoirs near the Venezuelan coast at the beginning of the week.
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