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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| US net imports of Venezuelan oil hit 30-year low |
| 2012-12-13 |
| Not so long ago, Hugo Chávez, the leftist Venezuelan leader, almost every month would threaten the US that he would shut down his country’s oil exports. Each time, Washington took the threats seriously because of the importance of Caracas for US energy supplies. Not any longer. The US dependence of Venezuelan net crude and oil products exports (including the US Virgin Islands, which largely refined Venezuelan crude to export into the US) has dropped to levels last seen nearly 30 years ago. The sharp drop is due to three factors. Overall US oil imports are down on the back of the shale boom. In addition, the closure of a large refinery in the US Virgin Islands co-owned by Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) has further reduced imports of Venezuelan-origin oil products. And more recently, Venezuela has started to import large amounts of US-made gasoline to offset a local shortage. The reduction in US imports of Venezuelan-origin crude and oil products has been going on for the last five years. The new factor is the surge in US exports of oil products into Venezuela. In September, US refiners shipped a record of 196,000 b/d of gasoline and other oil products to Caracas. The International Energy Agency, the western countries’ oil watchdog, associates the surge in US exports to outages in Amuay and El Palito refineries in Venezuela. The Amuay plant, part of the 955,000 b/d giant Paraguana Refining Center – the world’s second largest after the Jamnagar refinery in India – suffered an explosion and fire in August that killed nearly 50 people and injured more than 150. Although Caracas has said several times the refinery is returning to full production, the surge in oil products from the US suggests the contrary. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 Maybe next time we threaten to cut of oil sales to them. |
| Posted by: bigjim-CA 2012-12-13 17:22 |
| #1 US refiners shipped a record of 196,000 b/d of gasoline and other oil products to Caracas. To be sold at 2 cents per gallon. Now that friends, is a subsidy. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2012-12-13 14:53 |