Vitol prepares fuel oil exports from Venezuela, sources say

Trading house Vitol is preparing to export Venezuelan fuel oil, a step to expand shipments from the OPEC nation under a flagship U.S.-backed oil supply deal following the capture of President Nicolas Maduro, three sources close to the decision said on Thursday.

Trading firms Vitol and Trafigura earlier this month obtained the first U.S. licenses to load and export Venezuelan oil.

The companies have been taking cargoes and storing the oil at terminals in the Caribbean, while marketing the crude to refiners in the U.S., Europe and India.

The moves signal that a landmark 50-million-barrel supply deal between Caracas and Washington is accelerating to make possible the re-entry of millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil and fuel to destinations they have not gone to for long under U.S. sanctions and frequent policy changes.

Executives from Vitol this week instructed business partners in Venezuela to assess terminals operated by state-run energy company PDVSA, including Amuay and El Palito, to begin loading fuel oil cargoes there in the coming days, the sources said.

Vitol and PDVSA did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

Venezuela has millions of barrels of crude and fuel oil stored onshore and in vessels as a consequence of a U.S. oil blockade that began in December as a way to pressure Maduro's administration.

The OPEC country produces high-sulphur residual fuel oil, which it used to sell to customers in Asia.

-Marianna Parraga and Shariq Khan/Reuters