Venezuelan tanker trades have become increasingly chaotic over the past week mainly because US-based companies suspended their transactions with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) over sanction worries, according to industry sources.
A handful of tankers have been diverted from Venezuela while many others are kept in Venezuelan waters and the Gulf of Mexico after loading operations, following the White House’s announcement of new sanctions against PDVSA on 28 January to drive out the regime of President Nicolas Maduro.
