MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuela's state-run PDVSA began discharging 620,000 barrels of imported condensate crude oil at the nation's largest oil port last week in an effort to boost blending operations, reported Reuters with reference to two company documents, sources and vessel tracking data.
Venezuela had not imported condensate since September, when it received a 2.1 million-barrel cargo from Iran, a political and commercial ally of President Nicolas Maduro that since 2020 has also supplied the South American nation with fuel.
PDVSA this year doubled down on efforts to boost blending and upgrading of crudes from the OPEC member country's largest producing region, the Orinoco belt, in order to revive exports and resolve a deficit of oil for domestic refining.
The condensate cargo arrived in Venezuelan waters last Wednesday on the Panama-flagged vessel Rene, owned and operated by Fujairah-based firm Issa Shipping Fze, according to two PDVSA documents seen by Reuters, three shipping sources with knowledge of the import and monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.
The documents do not disclose the provider of the cargo, but they list Sri Lanka as its origin.
Reuters could not independently verify Rene's most recent port of departure as the tanker has had its transponder off for long periods of time this year. Refinitiv Eikon vessel tracking data showed it on its way to the Atlantic Ocean at the end of June.
PDVSA, Venezuela's oil ministry and Issa Shipping did not reply to requests for comment.
The state company earlier last week instructed operators at the Jose port to withdraw another vessel that was loading oil there to discharge the Rene, two of the sources said. The condensate plans to be received by PDVSA's upgrading unit, in charge of handling imported and domestic diluents. The Rene is also scheduled to later load Venezuelan heavy crude to be exported, according to one of the documents.
As MRC informed before, in June 2021, Venezuela's political opposition has replaced members of the boards overseeing Citgo Petroleum Corp as factions in the movement led by Juan Guaido try to gain greater influence over Houston-based oil refiner. Citgo split from Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA in 2019 after the US imposed sanctions intended to oust Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. Then congress chief Juan Guaido appointed new boards and won US court recognition of their authority over the refining subsidiary.
We remind that in September 2020, Citgo Petroleum Corp said it did not plan to idle its 418,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Lake Charles, Louisiana, refinery damaged by Hurricane Laura. Rumors have circulated since Laura’s passage over the Lake Charles area on Aug. 27 that Citgo was considering shutting the refinery for an indefinite period because of the extent of the damage and continuing low demand for motor fuels in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 953,400 tonnes in the first five months of 2021, which virtually corresponded to the same figure a year earlier. High denisty polyethylene (HDPE) shipments decreased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 607,8900 tonnes in January-May 2021, up by 33% year on year. Shipments of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whereas deliveries of PP random copolymers decreased.
MRC