Imports of Venezuelan crude into the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port have totaled over 7 million barrels from January to November this year, almost three times the 2.5 million barrels in the same period of 2016, according to US Customs data. The dramatic climb came despite the Trump administration’s threats to ban Venezuelan crude imports into the US and the shutdown of US Gulf Coast refineries due to hurricanes Harvey and Nate. Market sources have said that the main reason behind the increasing number of Venezuelan crude barrels going to LOOP has been declining imports of Saudi Arabian crude due to the OPEC production cuts on heavy sour crudes this year. From January to November, imports of Saudi Arabian crudes into LOOP were 42 million barrels, a drop of 45% from 76 million barrels imported in the same period of 2016, according to Customs data. In 2016, Marathon and PBF […]