Documents for the Venezuelan national oil company, PDVSA, and shipping data showed that tankers carrying about two months of Venezuelan oil were are at sea.
Washington is tightening sanctions to stop Venezuela’s oil exports and depriving the government of President Nicholas Maduro of its main source of revenue.
There are at least 16 tankers carrying 18.1 million barrels of Venezuelan oil stuck at sea in different regions of the world because of buyers’ reluctance to receive penalties, according to Refinitiv Icon.
This amount is equivalent to nearly two months worth of production at the current production rate in Venezuela, according to Reuters.
Some of these tankers have been stuck at sea for more than six months and have sailed to several ports, but they have not succeeded in unloading their cargo.
Each carrier bears enormous delay fines for each day’s delay in emptying the shipment.
According to a Reuters source in the shipping sector, the cost of using a ship to transport Venezuelan oil is at least $30,000 a day.
