PDVSA, Reliance resume oil swap under US authorization, document shows
Adds details, context in paragraphs 2-3 and 6-11
By Marianna Parraga
HOUSTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) -Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and India's Reliance Industries RELI.NS have resumed an oil swap that had been paused due to U.S. sanctions on the South American country, an internal PDVSA document seen on Thursday showed.
Reliance and other Indian refiners had imported Venezuelan oil earlier this year under a broad U.S. license that expired in April. In July, Washington granted Reliance an individualauthorization green-lighting the trade.
Before sanctions, India was Venezuela's second largest market for its crude. Due to the U.S. measures and separate licenses issued to some of PDVSA's joint venture partners, China has this year remained the main destination for Venezuela's oil, followed by the United States and Europe, according to ship tracking data.
A supertanker carrying about 1.9 million barrels of Venezuelan Merey heavy crude departed earlier this month for India's Sikka port, while a unit of Reliance delivered a 500,000-barrel cargo of heavy naphtha to PDVSA this month in exchange, according to the document.
PDVSA and Reliance did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Reliance, which operates the world's biggest refining complex, plans to pay in cash for the balance of the crude purchases after the swaps, a source told Reuters in August, in an arrangement similar to past exchanges.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump told reporters this week his country does not need oil from Venezuela, which currently exports about 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the United States, mostly shipped by oil producer Chevron CVX.N.
Chevron did not provide comment on Trump's remarks.
Possible changes in the U.S. sanctions regime on Venezuela, which since 2019 works through a combination of executive orders and licenses, could lead to a new interruption of the OPEC country's heavy oil flows to the U.S., while also halting Venezuela's imports of refined products from the United States.
If that happens, the Venezuelan barrels currently exported to the U.S. are expected to be redirected to Asian destinations, analysts and experts have said.
Venezuela's government has said the U.S. sanctions are illegitimate measures that amount to an "economic war" designed to cripple Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro and his allies have cheered what they say is the country's resilience despite the measures.
Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Gary McWilliams and Diane Craft
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