Chevron Corp’s efforts to load tankers at one of its four Venezuelan joint ventures and bring heavy crude to the United States are being hampered by a shipping channel snafu, according to three people familiar with the situation on Wednesday.
In order to encourage talks between Nicolas Maduro’s government and the country’s political opposition, Washington authorised the last major US firm still operating in Venezuela to restore lost output and begin exporting oil in November.
The lack of dredging at the navigation channel of Maracaibo Lake, the people claimed, is delaying a plan to quickly move heavy oil from inventories at the Petroboscan joint venture with state-run company PDVSA.
A dredge is frequently required to clear the water’s surface of debris, weeds, and mud so that ships can pass.
A ship not connected to Chevron that was carrying scrap metal ran aground in the channel’s shallow waters in December. Since then, Petroboscan has advised vessels to keep their draught to a minimum after loading at the Bajo Grande oil terminal.
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