Spanish oil group Repsol suspends oil trade between Venezuela and PDVSA at the request of the United States

The Spanish oil company Repsol has temporarily suspended its trade of refined products against Venezuelan crude with the PDVSA state-owned they said Reuters people familiar with the subject.

The measure, which has not been formalized, comes at a time when the United States is imposing new sanctions avoid access to the oil revenues of the Nicolás Maduro regime.

The Spanish company was collecting exceptional dividends of its projects in Venezuela through the reception of Venezuelan crude oil, which partly exchanges fuel sent to the South American country. The agreement remained in force even after the imposition of new sanctions by Washington to put pressure on the exit of Maduro.

The agreement transformed Repsol into anot major fuel providers of the OPEC member nation, with Rosneft of Russia and Reliance Industries of India, according to three sources and ship tracking data.

The government of the President of the United States, Donald TrumpHe attributes to Maduro a serious economic crisis that forced millions of Venezuelans to flee. Washington and dozens of other countries recognize the leader of the opposition, Juan Guaidó, interim president of Venezuela.

A final decision has not yet been made whether Repsol will definitely cancel the exchange agreement with Venezuela, which was agreed in late 2018, sources said.

A spokesman for Repsol declined to comment on the oil trade.

But one of the sources said that society he was communicating with the Trump government through the US Embbady in Spain, who also declined to comment.

Repsol said that he was complying with the sanctions imposed by Washington on PDVSA, which prohibit any use of the US financial system or US-based subsidiaries for negotiating agreements with the Venezuelan oil company.

The Treasury Department has granted Venezuelan oil buyers until April 28 to finalize the existing transactions.

The last shipment of Repsol gasoline arrived in Venezuela on March 25 aboard Torm Laura, according to ship tracking data provided by Refinitiv Eikon and the Kpler consulting firm.

Until Wednesday, the Achilleas, a Suezmax tanker chartered by Repsol, remained anchored near Jose's oil port in Venezuela after loading about 1 million barrels of heavy oil on April 6, according to data from Refinitiv.

Another Suezmax chartered by Repsol is moored in front of Jose for at least a week after oil loading, according to Refinitiv data and shipping sources.

According to one of the sources, tankers wait for instructions from Repsol before going to sea.

A separate group of 11 loaded tankers, chartered by US companies Chevron Corp, Valero Energy and Citgo Petroleum, has been anchored to Jose for more than two months after PDVSA's PDVSA payment complications.

Trump's National Security Advisor, John BoltonWednesday announced a series of sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela, increasing pressure on Maduro and the countries that support it.

In February, Spain imported about 75,920 barrels of Venezuelan oil a day (bpd), a reduction from 84,650 bpd the previous month, when purchases had been boosted by the Repsol-PDVSA exchange . The European country imported an average of 12,630 barrels / day of Venezuelan crude in 2018.

(By Collin Eaton and Marianna Parraga – Reuters)