US: China can buy Venezuelan crude but not at Maduro’s undercut prices

The Trump administration is allowing China to purchase Venezuelan oil but not at "unfair, undercut" prices at which Caracas sold the crude before the US removed its leader Nicolas Maduro, an administration official said on Thursday.

While the oil will be sold in the global marketplace, the US administration has required that the majority be sold to the United States, the official said on condition of anonymity. The US says it will control Venezuela's oil sales indefinitely after seizing Maduro on January 3.

"Thanks to President (Donald) Trump’s decisive and successful law enforcement operation, the people of Venezuela will collect a fair price for their oil from China and other nations rather than a corrupt, cheap price," the official said.

China has been Venezuela's top oil buyer for years, and the sales helped Caracas repay massive loans in debt-for-oil deals.

The administration is allowing China to buy the oil at "fair market prices - not the unfair, undercut prices" that Maduro sold oil to China to pay debts, the official said. US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said last week that the US was receiving about $45 per barrel for Venezuelan oil compared with the roughly $31 Venezuela was getting before Maduro's capture.

China's oil imports from Venezuela are expected to slump starting in February as fewer tankers have managed to leave after the US claimed control of the OPEC producer's sales, traders and analysts said last week.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardnerin Washington; Additional reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Matthew Lewis)