Venezuelan supply concerns deepen

El Universal, Executive Daily news and Summary

"Customers of Venezuela's Pdvsa are reporting renewed difficulties securing crude from Pdvsa, stoking fears that the country's output figures are inflated," Petroleum Argus says this week.

According to the oil bulletin, term buyers have expressed growing frustration with the situation. "Even Pdvsa's affiliates in the US have been forced to look for an alternative supply."

It adds that buyers complain they have been unable to get straight answers on how much oil they can receive, and some say it is a challenge even contacting Pdvsa's traders. "A Latin American trader says it now takes weeks to do deals with Pdvsa, where it used to take days, asserting that politicization and bureaucracy at Pdvsa are out of control."

"Us refiners have asked Mexico if it can supply more crude to make up Venezuelan shortfalls. But Pemex says it has no crude to spare, and cannot help. Russian Urals is filling some of the gap. Citgo and its Lyondell-Citgo sister have bought large volumes of Urals arriving this month and next, and are also seeking heavy crude in the Americas."

Argus also says that speculation that Venezuelan crude output is well below the 3.1 mn b/d claimed last month by Pdvsa's president Alí Rodríguez are increasing. "One rival says that Venezuela's output is no higher than 2.6 mn-2.7 mn b/d, and some of this is coming from Caribbean storage rather than Venezuelan fields."