Motiva buys cargo of Venezuelan heavy oil for March delivery; first purchase since 2019

By Nicole Jao, Arathy Somasekhar and Georgina McCartney

NEW YORK, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco's U.S. trading division bought a cargo of Venezuelan Boscan crude for March delivery, its first purchase of the heavy crude suited for asphalt making, sources familiar with the deal said on Thursday.

The cargo was sold by U.S. energy major Chevron CVX.N to Saudi Aramco 2222.SE, one of the sources said. Aramco acquired Motiva Trading in 2023 and became the sole supplier of Motiva Enterprises, which owns the 640,500-barrel-per-day refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, the largest in the United States.

The deal also marks Aramco Trading America's first Venezuelan crude purchase. Motiva had bought another grade of crude oil from the South American country in 2019 before Venezuela's entire energy sector was hit with U.S. sanctions, data from the Energy Information Administration showed.

Chevron is boosting exports of Venezuelan oil under an individual U.S. license it obtained last year and also using a general license granted by the U.S. Treasury Department in late January, which broadly authorizes oil exports from the U.S.-sanctioned South American country.

Trading houses Trafigura and Vitol are also exporting Venezuelan oil, following U.S. licenses granted last month as part of a $2 billion deal between Caracas and Washington to export up to 50 million barrels.

All of the sources spoke on condition of anonymity. Motiva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Other U.S. refiners, including Valero Energy VLO.N, Phillips 66 PSX.N and Citgo Petroleum, have also bought Venezuelan oil cargoes since the U.S.-Venezuela pact began, and are preparing to boost Venezuelan oil processing at their refineries.

Venezuela's crude exports to the U.S. increased to some 284,000 bpd in January from 99,000 bpd in December, according to tanker monitoring data.