Venezuela’s oil exports increase in June

Oil

Venezuela’s oil exports increased by 38K b/d (or 6.5%) m-o-m to 632K b/d in June, rising after previously falling to a four-month low in May, according to Reuters reporting on data from Refinitiv Eikon and Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA). Around 238K b/d (or 37.5%) of this total was exported to Malaysia, the highest level this year, where cargoes are trans-shipped and blended before reaching China, as buyers rushed to import bitumen blend ahead of the nation’s newly introduced import tax. This also coincided with the restart of a crude upgrader and the Petrosinovensa oil-blending plant, allowing PDVSA to boost exports of its Merey and Hamaca crude grades.