PDVSA put exports on hold
Shipments of the grade of oil fell to 2.13 million barrels in September, compared with 4.99 million barrels the previous month, according to Reuters Trade Flows data, after state-run PDVSA put exports on hold to reset prices for the grade.
Although the Venezuelan company in August notified its partners and customers that scheduled deliveries of diluted crude oil (DCO) would continue, sales to the United States have declined sharply.
Citgo's Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Corpus Christi, Texas, refineries on the Gulf Coast only received four cargoes with 500,000 to 600,000 barrels of Venezuelan DCO in September, compared with seven cargoes in August.
U.S. oil firms Chevron Corp and Valero Energy , which had been regularly buying DCO from PDVSA this year, did not receive any in recent weeks.
Declining DCO shipments to the U.S. could hasten the decline of Venezuelan oil exports to the country.