By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) – The Trump administration is allowing China to purchase Venezuelan oil but not at “unfair, undercut” prices at which Caracas sold the crude before the U.S. removed President Nicolas Maduro, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
While the oil will be sold in the global marketplace, the administration has required that the majority be sold to the United States, the administration official said on condition of anonymity. The U.S. says it will control Venezuela’s oil sales indefinitely after seizing Maduro on January 3.
“Thanks to President (Donald) Trump’s decisive and successful law enforcement operation, the people of Venezuela will collect a fair price for their oil from China and other nations rather than a corrupt, cheap price,” the official said.
China has been Venezuela’s top oil buyer for years, and the sales helped Caracas repay massive loans to Beijing in debt-for-oil deals.
The administration is allowing China to buy the oil at “fair market prices – not the unfair, undercut prices” at which Maduro sold oil to China to pay debts, the official said.
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said last week that the U.S. was receiving about $45 per barrel for Venezuelan oil compared with the roughly $31 Venezuela was getting before Maduro’s capture.
Trading houses Trafigura and Vitol have sold some 11 million barrels of oil in an initial supply deal between Venezuela and the U.S. of stranded crude, representing about a quarter of the $2 billion agreement.
Trafigura completed its first crude sale to a customer in a deal with Spanish company Repsol while Vitol has negotiated cargoes to U.S. refiners including Valero and Phillips 66 and to its refinery in Italy, sources said.
China’s oil imports from Venezuela are expected to slump starting in February as fewer tankers have managed to leave after the U.S. claimed control of the OPEC producer’s sales, traders and analysts said last week.
(Reporting by Timothy Gardnerin Washington; Additional reporting by Nidhi Verma in New Delhi; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Andrea Ricci )
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