April 19, 2019, 12:46 / Business / News

Reuters reported on the role of Rosneft in the sale of Venezuelan oil

The Venezuelan authorities use the services of Rosneft to circumvent US sanctions, Reuters writes , citing sources. According to them, the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA sends its invoices from the sale of fuel to Rosneft. Thus, the Russian company becomes an intermediary between PDVSA and the final buyer of Venezuelan oil, the agency clarifies.

Transactions are carried out immediately, the Russian company receives a certain commission for its services, the agency claims. Ultimately, money for deliveries of Venezuelan oil is transferred to PDVSA accounts in Russian banks, in particular to Eurofinance Mosnarbank, against which Washington had also previously imposed sanctions. Part of the transferred funds goes to pay for sea transportation, ensuring regular movement of tankers.

The Venezuelan Ministry of Oil, PDVSA and Rosneft did not comment on this information.

Describing the oil payment mechanism, Reuters refers to documents confirming that a similar scheme was allegedly offered to most clients of the Venezuelan company, for example the Indian Reliance Industries Ltd. This is PDVSA's largest cash-paying client, the agency clarifies.

In March, Reliance purchased 390,500 barrels of Venezuelan oil per day - 40% of all Venezuelan supplies, Reuters documents show. Reliance Chief Financial Officer Srikant Venkatachari confirmed that his company bought oil from Venezuela through Russian and Chinese companies. He refused to talk more about this. Reliance is now discussing compliance with sanctions with US authorities, he concluded.

Before the imposition of sanctions, the largest buyer of Venezuela's oil was the United States. At the end of January 2019, Washington imposed sanctions against PDVSA. American authorities froze the company's assets totaling $7 billion. The American subsidiary of PDVSA Citgo actually ceased to report to the parent company. Washington called the transfer of power from current Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to opposition leader Juan Guaido a condition for lifting sanctions.