Chevron is planning to run more Venezuelan crude in its US refineries, the company said today, following the shakeup of that country by US military intervention early this month.
Chevron, which has been operating in Venezuela with state-owned PdV under a special waiver from US sanctions, has been running about 50,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude at its 356,500 b/d refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi, chief executive Mike Wirth said on a fourth-quarter earnings call.
Chevron can take another 100,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude into its system both at the Pascagoula facility and at the 285,000 b/d El Segundo refinery in southern California, where it has coking capacity, he said.
Washington on Thursday lifted sanctions on Venezuela's oil exports, with caveats prohibiting sales to Cuba, business deals involving many Chinese companies and oil-for-debt arrangements.
The lifting of sanctions will allow Venezuela's state-owned PdV to directly sell cargoes to any eligible buyer abroad.
Previously, only trading firms Trafigura and Vitol were approved by the US government to market unsanctioned Venezuelan crude following the US capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro on 3 January.
US independent refiner Valero said on Thursday it plans to ramp up purchases of Venezuelan crude and expects it to be a major heavy feedstock this quarter.
Valero ran as much as 240,000 b/d of Venezuelan heavy crude in the past before US sanctions, but that was prior to installing a new coker at its 380,000 b/d Port Arthur, Texas, refinery in 2023 which increased processing capacity for heavy crude.
Now, Valero can run Venezuelan crude "substantially north of that number", Valero's vice president of crude and feedstocks supply and trading Randy Hawkins said this week.
Phillips 66 said earlier this month that its two large Gulf Coast refineries can process about 200,000 b/d of Venezuelan oil if the crudes are available and the economics support it. The refineries include the 265,000 b/d Sweeny refinery in Old Ocean, Texas, and the 264,000 b/d refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
