Venezuelan crude trickles in to US Gulf coast

Venezuelan crude — once the dominant source of heavy feedstocks for US refineries — trickled into just two refineries in March as sanctions and production issues strangled shipments to the US.

US imports of Venezuelan crude in March averaged just under 47,000 b/d, down from 480,000 b/d in the same month of 2018, according to the latest Energy Information Administration data. PBF Energy's 190,000 b/d refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana, a former joint venture of ExxonMobil and Venezuelan national oil company PdV, imported 15,500 b/d of crude during the month. The refiner imported 55,710 b/d in March 2018 and averaged 40,765 b/d last year. Chevron's 330,000 b/d refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi, imported 31,000 b/d, down from 78,000 b/d in March 2018.

The US imposed sanctions on PdV on 28 January that immediately halted naphtha exports essential to that country's heavy crude blending export programs and made imports effectively impossible. Citgo, Venezuela's US refining subsidiary, imported no crude from the country that month, the first time that both of its US Gulf coast refineries reported zero imports from the country since at least 2003.

Valero's 325,000 b/d refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, another routine importer of Venezuelan production, reported zero imports after receiving 17,750 b/d in February. The company's 215,000 b/d refinery in St Charles, Louisiana, another major Venezuelan importer, halted imports in January after beginning major maintenance at the site.

Sanctions have opened up opportunities for rival heavy crude exporters. Mexican, Colombian and Brazilian exports all climbed compared to the same month of 2018. Mexico's 27pc of total US heavy crude imports — 241,323 b/d — marked the country's return to second-largest supplier of heavy feedstock to the US for the first time since 2011.

Sanctions were not the sole cause of Venezuela's vanishing exports in March. Extensive blackouts damaged equipment and silenced blending and port operations.

The Venezuelan drop helped to sink total US imports from Opec-member countries to their lowest level in 33 years. US imports of Opec crude fell to 1.5mn b/d, or 22pc of total crude imports for the month. Opec barrels represented 33pc of total US imports in March 2018.