Sales of Venezuelan crude to the United States fell 23 percent in October to 601,605 barrels per day (bpd) due to fewer shipments of diluted oil from the country’s main producing region, the Orinoco belt, according to Thomson Reuters trade flows data. Venezuela’s oil production has declined sharply this year due to years of underinvestment, payment delays to suppliers and lack of enough diluents to make exportable crude blends, which has affected exports of state-run oil firm PDVSA. The United States, one of PDVSA’s top destinations for exports, received 37 cargoes of Venezuelan crudes last month compared with 46 cargoes in September and 50 cargoes in October of 2015, according to the […]