Iran has delivered the fourth cargo of crude oil condensate to Venezuela since the start of this year, Reuters has reported , citing a Venezuelan member of parliament—but the condensate is causing PDVSA some quality issues that are hampering crude exports. Condensate is vital for Venezuela’s struggling state oil company PDVSA as it has virtually no other options of importing it amid U.S. sanctions. The superlight crude is used to blend into PDVSA’s superheavy crude to make it more liquid and therefore easier to export. The two countries—and U.S. sanction buddies—earlier this year formalized a swap deal under which Iran would continue supplying condensate to Caracas and received Venezuelan crude in return. The deal, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, could constitute a violation of sanctions, but no steps were taken to prevent it. Both Venezuela and Iran plan to ramp up their oil production, although Iran may have […]