Trafigura, Vitol agree to help sell Venezuelan oil on US government request

By Shariq Khan

NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Commodities trade houses Trafigura and Vitol have agreed to provide logistical and marketing services for the sale of Venezuelan oil at the request of the U.S. government, a Trafigura spokesperson told Reuters by email.

Reuters first reported on Thursday that the two companies were in talks with the U.S. government for such deals, citing sources familiar with the talks.

The commodities traders were competing with U.S. oil producers and others for what are expected to be lucrative agreements for exports of Venezuelan oil. U.S. officials have said they are seeking to control Venezuelan oil sales indefinitely after the U.S. captured the South American country's President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday.

Trafigura will load its first vessel of Venezuelan crude exports to the U.S. next week, its Chief Executive Richard Holtum told U.S. President Donald Trump at a gathering of oil executives at the White House earlier on Friday.

Holtum and Trafigura did not provide further details.

A Trafigura spokesperson said the company is in full compliance with applicable sanctions. Trafigura has all the necessary licenses it needs for transactions related to Venezuela, they added.

Geneva-based Vitol has also secured a preliminary special license for imports and exports of Venezuelan oil, Reuters reported on Thursday.

"We're here to ensure that you're going to be able to move all of this oil all around the world," John Addison, a senior Vitol executive said at Friday's White House event.

Vitol's Head of Americas Ben Marshall thanked Trump for the opportunity to work with the U.S. and Venezuelan government to bring the South American country's crude oil to the market at a fair price.

"Vitol has a long history of working on complex energy transactions requiring agile logistics, operations and finance. We are pleased to deploy our expertise to help flow PDVSA's crude oil and products to market," Marshall said in a statement to Reuters.