Amir Richani

We noted recently that Mexico and Venezuela will lose out once the marine fuel sulfur cap goes into force in January. Next we turn our focus to Argentina and Brazil, which can expect to reap the rewards of the IMO’s spec change. Beginning in January, the sulfur cap for marine fuels will change from 3.5 […]

The implementation of the IMO sulfur cap on marine fuels will change Latin American flows because of the impact on demand and prices for heavy-sour grades of crude oil. Many Latin American suppliers produce the heavy-sour crude good for production of high sulfur fuel oil (HSFO) and simple refiners without the capacity to trim HSFO […]

Before the Trump administration began its crackdown on Caracas, the United States was the largest supplier of refined products to Venezuela. With strict sanctions in place, Venezuela has now turned to the European market, and notably Russia, in order to maintain a relatively steady level of imports of gasoline and middle distillates. US sanctions imposed […]

A particular grade of heavy-sweet crude oil produced by Brazil is in high demand thanks to the International Maritime Organization’s upcoming sulfur cap. The new regulation goes into effect on January 1 and will limit the permissible sulfur content of marine fuels to 0.5 percent, down from its current level of 3.5 percent. As a […]

Venezuela: between political crisis and oil flows.

Mexican light crude imports are absent so far in 2019.

A month and a half have passed since US sanctions restricted exports of Venezuelan crude oil to US refiners. Although the South American country is the biggest loser, refineries on the US Gulf Coast are also affected by US foreign policy.

As the US closes its doors to Venezuelan crude, we see more cargoes heading to Asia, with India as the primary destination amid talk of PdVSA seeking to barter for its oil.