Venezuela’s state-owned oil firm Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) has sharply stepped up its tendering for gasoline and other fuels, meaning at least a dozen vessels are on their way to the South American country, according to Reuters.
PDVSA has taken the action to compensate for its own weak refining output.
It placed orders for various fuels with British supermajor BP, US firm Castleton Commodities, Russian giant Rosneft and CT Energia of Switzerland.
The vessels are expected to deliver around 4 million barrels, mostly sold under prepaid deals, meaning they will not be unloaded until payment is received. That harks back to last year’s incidents when ships backlogged offshore while payment reportedly was held up.
PDVSA’s refinery operations have been running well below capacity because of reported equipment failures.
Venezuela’s economy has been in turmoil as typified by gasoline shortages which the government has put down to distribution problems.