The Daily Journal — Venezuela’s Acting President, Delcy Rodríguez, held a high-level meeting at Miraflores Palace with a delegation from the multinational corporation Trafigura, led by its Chief Executive Officer, Richard Holtum.
According to official information, the meeting brought together Hydrocarbons Minister Paula Henao, Economy and Finance Minister Anabel Pereira Fernández, and PDVSA President Héctor Obregón. The participants focused on matters of mutual commercial interest.
Trafigura, founded in 1993 and headquartered in Singapore, is the world’s largest private metals trader and the second-largest private oil trader. Its renewed engagement with Caracas coincides with an aggressive push to reposition Venezuelan crude in Asian markets.
The Geopolitical Factor: Replacing Middle Eastern supply
According to a report by financial news service Bloomberg, commodity trading giants Trafigura Group and Vitol Group have intensified their logistical efforts to market Venezuelan oil across Asia.
This commercial resurgence comes at a critical moment. Venezuela has continued to increase oil production while armed conflict involving Iran has severely disrupted hydrocarbon supplies from the Middle East. As instability persists in the Persian Gulf, Venezuela’s heavy crude has reemerged as an attractive supply alternative for Asian refineries.
Historic return to South Korea and deliveries to Malaysia
Industry sources familiar with private transactions told Bloomberg that Trafigura has begun offering cargoes of Venezuela’s Merey 16 crude to fuel producers in South Korea.
“Trafigura offered half a million barrels of Merey 16 to South Korean fuel producers (…). The oil ultimately unloaded at a storage facility in South Korea in early June,” the specialized outlet reported.
The shipment marks a significant commercial milestone. According to customs data compiled by Bloomberg, South Korea last purchased Venezuelan oil in 2011.
Maritime operations have also reached Southeast Asia. The same supertanker chartered by Trafigura for the South Korean transaction, the Nissos Kea, simultaneously delivered a cargo to a Malaysian port that supplies the Melaka refinery, operated by state-owned Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas). The facility is a major asphalt producer, and Venezuela’s heavy crude serves as an ideal feedstock for that industry.
Vitol expands offers and eyes the indian market
Vitol Group has carried out similar operations using the supertanker Solana, which recently unloaded 2 million barrels of Merey 16 into floating storage facilities off the coast of Malaysia. Traders typically use these storage hubs to divide large cargoes into smaller volumes for delivery to end users.
Bloomberg also reported that international traders have recently offered Venezuelan crude to Indian refineries at discounts of approximately $6 per barrel relative to the Brent crude benchmark.
