Venezuela’s crude production entered November on a downswing after the US banned non-US companies from crude-for-diesel swaps at the end of October. Output was slipping below an October average of 350,000 b/d as Spain’s Repsol, Italy’s Eni and India’s Reliance stopped crude liftings and low-sulfur diesel supply that had previously been permitted under the US sanctions, Venezuelan oil industry sources told Argus . The diesel cut-off has left Venezuela’s state-owned PdV with few export options and nearly replete storage, a pattern repeated over the course of the nearly two years since the US imposed the oil sanctions in January 2019. Crude exports in October plunged to roughly 350,000 b/d, half of the September level. Among PdV’s joint ventures that are still partially operating is PetroPiar, a heavy crude upgrading project in which Chevron holds a 30pc stake. The 170,000 b/d upgrader, based in the eastern industrial complex of Jose, […]