(ET)
Indian refiner Reliance Industries Ltd is scheduled to resume loading Venezuelan crude in October after a four-month pause, according to sources and internal documents from PDVSA seen by Reuters, a move that could help Venezuela’s state-run company drain its large oil inventories.
The United States in January imposed the toughest sanctions yet on Venezuela’s oil industry, depriving the OPEC-member nation of the main destination for its crude exports. In August, Washington escalated sanctions further by threatening non-U.S. companies with punitive action if they “materially assist” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government. The measures have scared away several of PDVSA’s largest customers and tanker operators, causing a fast accumulation of unsold crude that forced the Venezuelan company last month to reduce output.
