Venezuela Resumes Selling Oil to China despite US Sanctions

Venezuela has resumed direct oil sales to China after a year of stoppage, despite the continued presence of US sanctions on Caracas.

Venezuela's oil exports fell to their lowest levels in several decades under intense pressure from Washington.

According to Venezuelan Shipping Monitoring Service data, a tanker for shipping crude oil set off from the shores of Venezuela to China in late August, loaded with 1.8 million barrels of oil.

Another tanker unloaded its load of Venezuelan heavy crude in the Chinese port of Baioquan this month, while two vessels owned by "Petro China" were loading oil from a port in Venezuela at the same period.

Venezuela plunged deeper into the political crisis in early 2019, after the White House imposed several rounds of sanctions against it, essentially banning American imports of Venezuelan oil and oil products, preventing American companies from doing business with the Venezuelan government, as well as state-run companies in the country.

"Reuters", a UK news agency, reported, based on data from specialized monitoring sites and internal documents of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, that Venezuela has resumed oil exports to China, despite US sanctions against it.

According to the agency, the Chinese oil companies CNPC and Petro China have stopped receiving shipments in Venezuelan ports since August 2019, after the United States tightened sanctions against the Venezuelan oil sector.

Tanker Trackers data for monitoring the movement of oil tankers indicated that the "Kyoto" tanker became the first ship to resume the transportation of cargoes from Venezuela. It shipped 1.8 million barrels of oil in the Venezuelan port of Jose last August.

Refinitiv Eikon data also reported that the Venezuelan oil tanker Warrior King was unloaded in a Chinese port, and several other Petro China tankers loaded oil in Venezuela this November.

It is noteworthy that the United States imposed sanctions on Venezuela, including on its oil sector, accusing the Venezuelan leadership, and President Nicolas Maduro personally, of "corruption, violation of human rights and involvement in drug trafficking and terrorism."