Venezuela’s Oil Exports Fall in January

Venezuela’s oil exports (crude and refined products) fell almost 14%, or 148K b/d, m-o-m in January to 952K b/d (-428K b/d y-o-y), but crude stocks continued to fall, reports Reuters, citing PDVSA reports and ship tracking data. India took 38.5% of the January exports after Reliance resumed direct purchases in November after a 4-month halt. Venezuela’s exports dropped by a third last year to an average of 1M b/d, mainly due to US sanctions imposed in early 2019. Venezuela’s crude output dropped in 2019 to its lowest in almost 75 years.