Vitol, Trafigura and the White House invited to Venezuelan oil discussions on Friday
Four sources familiar with the situation have confirmed that the U.S. administration of President Donald Trump has invited the heads of commodity trading companies Vitol and Trafigura to meet at the White House this Friday to discuss the marketing Venezuelan crude oil.
European trading houses dominate global oil trading, and could assist the U.S. in selling oil from Venezuela despite Washington's desire for U.S. oil majors to take the lead. White House announced that it would host U.S. Oil Majors on Friday. However, the invitation for trading houses was not previously reported.
Could not obtain an immediate list of all those invited to meetings.
Trafigura declined to comment. The White House declined to comment on the specific question of?if Vitol or Trafigura was invited.
WASHINGTON WANT TO CONTROL OIL SALES FOREVER The Trump administration began to focus on Venezuela's Oil Industry as soon as the U.S. On January 3, the U.S. forces captured Nicolas Maduro. Washington wants to maintain control over Venezuela's oil revenue and sales.
The U.S. Department of Energy announced on Wednesday that it is working with commodity marketers and financial institutions to help finance and execute Venezuelan crude oil and fuel sales. The Department of Energy did not name the companies.
Trump has said that U.S. oil companies will invest in Venezuela to rebuild its oil industry and reduce global energy prices. U.S. major oil companies have stated that they need "serious assurances" before making investments. Washington and Caracas reached an agreement this week for the export of 30-50 million barrels worth $2 billion in oil to the United States.
Venezuela's oil production has fallen to just 1 million barrels a day (or 1% of the global supply) from 3.5 millions bpd during the 1970s, when it was 7%.
TRADERS IN VENEZUELA
Vitol & Trafigura was?amongst the most active traders in Venezuelan oil before U.S. sanctions were introduced in 2019.
It is possible that the trading companies may not have had first access to Venezuelan crude. They have in the past marketed Venezuelan oil received from PDVSA state oil company's European partners who were U.S. license holders. Their ability to quickly deploy tanker fleets and trade barrels is greater than that of most joint venture partners. U.S. Oil Major Chevron has been in talks with U.S. Government to extend a license to operate in Venezuela to allow it to sell to other buyers as well as increase crude exports to their own refineries.
Since sanctions were imposed on Venezuela in 2019, Reliance has been trading Venezuelan oil under U.S. licenses. This includes Eni, Repsol and Maurel & Prom. Reporting by Shariq KHan in New York; Marianna Parra in Houston; Dmitry Zhdannikov in London and Anna Hirtenstein and Robert Harvey in London. Editing by Jason Neely, Barbara Lewis and Barbara Lewis.
(source: Reuters)
