VENEZUELA'S OIL FOR CHINA

PLATTS - China's crude imports from Venezuela surged 50.7% month on month to 411,000 b/d or 1.74 million mt in January, posting the fifth month in a row of increase after hitting a four-year low last September, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed Tuesday.

Imports from Venezuela stood at 808,593 mt last September, the lowest since September 2014, when imports totaled 607,795 mt, GAC data showed.

Despite the month-on-month surge in crude imports from Venezuela in January, the total was still down 6.5% year on year.

Among the top suppliers of crude to China in January, supply from Iran saw the deepest reduction, falling 49.6% year on year and 25.2% from December to 1.6 million mt (379,000 b/d).

There were no shipments from the US in January due to the ongoing China-US trade tensions.

The top crude oil supplier in January was Russia at 6.97 million mt, accounting for 16.4% of market share, followed by Saudi Arabia at 5.76 million mt, or 13.5%.

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Earlier:

2019, February, 8, 11:35:00 U.S., VENEZUELA SANCTIONS EIA - Recently announced U.S. sanctions directed at Venezuela’s energy sector and state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), will essentially eliminate U.S. imports of Venezuelan crude oil as the full effects of the sanctions emerge. However, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) does not anticipate any significant decrease in U.S. refinery runs as a result of these sanctions.

2019, February, 1, 11:30:00 U.S. LOOSE VENEZUELA'S OIL 500 TBD PLATTS- US refiners cannot rely on Mexico to replace Venezuelan heavy oil imports as the country is battling to reverse its declining production and Pemex's oil is sold under contractual basis, analysts and others say.

2019, January, 30, 11:35:00 WEAK VENEZUELA SANCTIONS OGJ - “The sanctions will affect refinery margins in the US. Now they will have to import heavy crude from the Middle East at a premium. US refiners will be amongst the biggest losers, as we have noted earlier,” Rodriguez-Masiu said.

2019, January, 30, 11:30:00 U.S., VENEZUELA SANCTIONS ALWAYS PLATTS - The Trump administration announced Monday that it will sanction PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned oil company, a move that could suspend roughly 500,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude exports to US Gulf Coast refineries and shut down US exports of diluents to the South American nation.

2019, January, 28, 10:20:00 CHINA FOR VENEZUELA: $50 BLN REUTERS - China has lent over $50 billion to Venezuela through oil-for-loan agreements over the past decade, securing energy supplies for its fast-growing economy.

2019, January, 25, 08:20:00 U.S. - VENEZUELA SANCTIONS PLATTS - Chevron, PBF Energy, Valero and Citgo, which is owned by PDVSA, are the largest US refiners of Venezuelan crude, according to the US Energy Information Administration. Spokesmen for those four companies did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

2019, January, 9, 10:45:00 VENEZUELA'S OIL PRODUCTION: BELOW 1 MBD PLATTS - The US Energy Information Administration forecasts that Venezuelan oil production will fall below 1 million b/d in the second half of 2019, according to Erik Kreil, an international energy analysis team leader with the EIA.