Venezuela Oil Exports Flat in August Amid Port Bottlenecks and Terminal Issues

Venezuela's oil exports remained relatively unchanged in August at 1.17 million barrels per day, despite port bottlenecks and terminal issues plaguing state-run PDVSA.

A power blackout in late July affected all of PDVSA's crude upgraders and blending stations, causing longer delays for tanker loading times.

Global trading houses like Vitol and Trafigura managed to keep their export volumes stable at around 597,000 barrels per day, while Chevron's exports declined slightly to 286,000 bpd from 293,000 in July.

Venezuela's oil shipments to the US averaged 553,000 bpd, down from a record high of 786,000 bpd in July. Shipments to India rose by 66% to 297,000 bpd, while exports to Europe almost tripled to 260,000 bpd.

The country also imported around 166,000 bpd of fuel last month, mostly US naphtha to dilute its extra-heavy crude output, more than double the 81,000 bpd imported in July.