Two cargoes of Venezuelan crude heading across the Atlantic are signalling for Sarroch in Italy and Bilbao, Spain, according to Argus tracking.
Suezmax Poliegos updated its destination overnight to trading firm Vitol's 300,000 b/d Sarroch refinery in Italy. It is carrying around 1mn bl of Venezuelan crude, loaded at the country's Jose terminal.
Vitol has been approved by the US government to market Venezuelan crude.
Sarroch was the most recent Mediterranean destination for Venezuela crude, in March-April 2025, ahead of tighter US sanctions on Caracas that halted supplies.
Suezmax Folegandros was already signalling arrival at the Spanish Atlantic port of Bilbao, where integrated Repsol has a 220,000 b/d refinery. Repsol would not comment on the matter. According to workers connected to the refinery, the cargo is a spot purchase and not part of a crude-for-debt swap scheme that Repsol ran with Venezuela's state-owned PdV. Under that scheme Spain received 55,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude in 2024, all of which went to Repsol refineries at Bilbao, Cartagena and La Coruna. This fell to 15,000 b/d last year, after sanctions tightened.
