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April 6 (Reuters) – A unit of India’s refiner Reliance Industries has begun loading a 2-million-barrel cargo of Venezuelan heavy crude directly bought from state-run energy company PDVSA, according to a company document and shipping data on Monday.
Since Caracas signed a flagship oil supply deal with Washington after the U.S. capture of President Nicolas Maduro in January, only a small group of companies have been able to buy cargoes directly from PDVSA.
Oil proceeds from any sales remain controlled by the United States through bank accounts administered by the Treasury Department, and commercial terms must follow U.S. guidance, according to U.S. licenses granted for the trade so far.
On Monday, the Bahamas-flagged supertanker Helios, chartered by Reliance’s unit RIL USA, docked at PDVSA’s Jose terminal on Venezuela’s eastern coast and began loading its cargo of Merey heavy crude bound for India’s Sikka port, according to the document and ship tracking data from LSEG.
Reliance and PDVSA did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Venezuela’s crude exports to India, which resumed in late February after a 10-month pause through sales made by U.S. oil company Chevron (CVX.N) and trading houses Vitol and Trafigura to several Indian refiners, have helped drain millions of barrels of oil inventories in recent weeks, the shipping data showed.
The supertankers bound for India also are helping load cargoes faster at Jose, the country’s main oil port, accelerating overall crude exports.
Venezuela’s oil exports to India rose to some 342,000 barrels per day (bpd) in March, from 35,000 bpd in February, according to vessel tracking data.
Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Additional reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Andrea Ricci
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