While large US energy corporations are still hesitant to return to Venezuela, oil businesses and oil tanker tycoons are rushing in.
Many sources familiar with the matter said that just hours after the US arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, executives at the merchandise trading companies Vitol and Trafigura called ship owners in Athens to ask if oil tankers from the huge Greek merchant fleet could come to Venezuela to unload oil if President Donald Trump eases sanctions? The answer is: We are doing it.
This is a boom period for Greek ship owners. Even on major shipping routes, freight rates for the largest oil tankers have skyrocketed by 90% since the US arrested Mr. Maduro, with predictions of more oil for the global fleet to transport.
Oil tanker owners heading to Venezuela are charging even higher fees. The rental price of medium-sized oil tankers - ideal ships for transporting oil to US ports - has also skyrocketed.
Discussions between ship owners and cargo traders began even before the US arrested Mr. Maduro. The parties engaged in quick negotiations, creating conditions for some of the boldest companies in the West to profit from the reopening of Venezuela's oil market.
Vitol, headquartered in London (UK) and Trafigura in Geneva (Switzerland), was quickly licensed by the US for trading in Venezuela, helping these companies access the market while competitors are still embargoed.
Sources familiar with the matter said that the companies have agreed to find buyers of Venezuelan crude oil, the amount of oil that Washington said Caracas has delivered to Washington for sale, including initial shipments worth 250 million USD each.
Trafigura's first Venezuelan oil shipment has arrived in Curacao, an island nation in the Caribbean, this week and is awaiting being loaded onto another ship to be transported to the final buyer.
Many oils are expected to leave Venezuela in the coming weeks on Greek ships chartered by Vitol and Trafigura - oil traders and maritime transport executives said.
According to traders and leaders of sea transport businesses, Vitol and Trafigura are looking for buyers for this oil, and also expect part of the oil to be transferred to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico of the United States, reservoirs in the Caribbean and importers in Europe.
US Department of Energy spokesman Ben Dietderich said most of the oil will be sold to US refineries.
