Venezuela renews oil shipments to Israel – Bloomberg
Israel has reportedly received its first crude oil shipment from Venezuela since the US imposed a blockade on the Latin American country and abducted its president, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the deal.
The US launched a military operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in early January, and now claims to have seized control of the country’s oil exports.
At least seven tankers deemed to have violated US sanctions have been seized since then, including a Russian flagged tanker in the mid-Atlantic, and Washington has banned Venezuelan oil producers from doing business with Russia and China.
Sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the news agency that the oil is being transported to Bazan Group, Israel’s largest crude processor. The shipment is reportedly the first of its kind since mid-2020, when Israel received about 470,000 barrels, according to data tracked by Kpler.
Venezuelan Information Minister Miguel Perez Pirela in a post on X on Wednesday referred to the report of the shipment as “FAKE!”
The reported shipment comes as part of Washington’s efforts to reroute flows of Venezuelan oil towards new international buyers. Earlier this week, Reuters cited trade sources as saying that India’s two state refiners purchased two million barrels of Venezuelan crude for delivery in the second half of April. Last week, the agency reported, citing shipping schedules, that two million barrels of crude from the South American country had been sent to refineries owned by oil producer Repsol in Spain.
At the same time, China, once a top importer of Venezuelan oil, has reportedly turned to Iranian heavy crude to replace shipments that stopped due to the US blockade.
China has condemned US actions against Venezuela, saying the use of force and interruption of oil shipments violated international law and the country’s sovereignty.
Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump said Washington plans to “control Venezuela’s oil resources indefinitely.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier this week that the US is trying to take control of all international energy supply routes in an attempt to attain global economic dominance.
