Repsol headquarters in Madrid, Spain. Photo: www.repsol.com.
The Spanish petroleum company Repsol has resumed shipments of Venezuelan crude oil to Europe after a two-year pause, reports the energy and commodity price benchmarking portal Argus Media.
“The Spanish company Repsol has resumed the agreement to supply oil in exchange for Venezuelan debt,” reported the British portal.
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The report added that in July, Respol’s imports from Venezuela to Europe reached three million barrels per day.
The Spanish oil giant stopped importing Venezuelan crude oil in September 2020 in compliance with the US government-imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry.
British news agency Reuters reported on June 5 that the US State Department had sent letters to the Italian oil company ENI and the Spanish oil company Repsol, “authorizing” them to begin shipments of Venezuelan crude to Europe, starting from July.
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The US government has granted exemptions on Venezuelan crude oil in an attempt to ease the energy crisis generated after it forced the European Union to drastically reduce imports of crude oil and gas from Russia, in order to pressure it over its special military operation in Ukraine.
In June, Venezuelan state-owned oil company PetrĂłleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) exported an average of 630,500 barrels of crude oil and fuel per day, a 61% increase in oil exports over the previous year. This increase was mainly due to the first shipments of Venezuelan crude to Europe in two years.
(HispanTV)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/AF
