By Marianna Parraga
Feb 2 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s oil exports rose to about 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) in January, from 498,000 bpd in December, following the U.S. capture of Nicolas Maduro and the end of an oil embargo that left traders carrying most exports, shipping data showed.
Washington imposed an oil embargo on the US-sanctioned country in December to pressure Maduro and seized seven tankers.
The blockade led to the accumulation of more than 40 million barrels of crude and fuel in tanks and vessels on land that could not be exported and forced the Venezuelan state-run energy company PDVSA to reduce production in early January.
Since the US Treasury Department extended the first licenses to traders Trafigura and Vitol in January to start exporting stocks, oil production, processing and shipments from the OPEC member have accelerated, the data, which is based on tanker movements, shows.
The January volume was close to the average exports of 847,000 bpd of crude and fuel last year. However, PDVSA’s partners and traders will have to continue to accelerate the pace of exports to drain millions of barrels that are still in inventories, so that the decline in crude production can be fully reversed.
January exports were slightly lower than the 867,000 bpd shipped in the same month of 2025, the data showed.
The Treasury Department last week issued a broad license authorizing business between US companies and PDVSA to export, store, transport and refine Venezuelan oil, another step to loosen exports. PDVSA’s partners, including Chevron, are still awaiting individual licenses to expand operations.
The United States last month regained its position as the main individual destination of Venezuelan crude with about 284,000 bpd exported there, of which 220,000 bpd was shipped by Chevron, up from the 99,000 bpd it shipped the previous month.
China, which until December was Venezuela’s top oil destination, with more than 70% of total exports, received 156,000 bpd last month. There were no exports to the political ally Cuba.
Vitol and Trafigura exported 12 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil and fuel oil under US licenses, or about 392,000 bpd in January, mostly to storage terminals in the Caribbean, the data showed, from which they began exporting and marketing cargo to customers in the United States, Europe and India.
Between 18 million and 38 million barrels more have yet to be exported under the flagship $2 billion supply deal agreed by Caracas and Washington shortly after Maduro’s capture, with the proceeds of the sale going to a US-supervised fund.