About two million barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude are being sent to refineries owned by oil producer Repsol in Spain, following purchases the company negotiated with trading house Trafigura, according to shipping schedules seen by Reuters.
Trafigura and Vitol were granted US licences last month to export millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil to the US and other destinations, following the US capture of President Nicolas Maduro.
The companies have since been storing the oil in Caribbean terminals and marketing cargoes to refiners in the US and Europe. Spain had not imported Venezuelan crude since the first quarter of last year before US President Donald Trump revoked all authorisations for foreign companies to receive and carry oil from the US-sanctioned country.
On Friday, the US Treasury Department issued a broad licence for US companies to load, transport, store, sell and refine Venezuelan oil. Some Venezuelan heavy crude grades are a good fit for Repsol's refineries, including Cartagena, the company has said, showing interest in stable supplies from the South American country.
Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, on Wednesday met executives from Repsol and French company Maurel Prom in Caracas, following the approval of a sweeping reform of the country's main oil law last month.
The reform gave six months to the government and joint-venture partners of state company PDVSA to negotiate and update the terms of their partnerships.
Repsol and Trafigura declined to comment. One of two cargoes of Merey heavy crude for Repsol, on board Suezmax tankers, departed in early February from the Jose port, operated by PDVSA.
The second one is about to finish loading this week, the schedule showed.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston and Pietro Lombardi in Madrid; Additional reporting by Reuters staff; Editing by Julia Symmes Cobb and Matthew Lewis)
