First effects of the sanctions: the Orlen refinery cancels purchase contracts from Venezuela
Polish refinery Orlen has canceled contracts to purchase Venezuelan crude and oil products, after losing millions of US dollars on prepayment for cargoes that were not loaded, as the settlement period of the return of US sanctions has begun on Venezuela, an Orlen manager told Reuters . All this, however, capitalizing on a significant loss for Polish society.
Refiners and traders returned to trade with Venezuela late last year after the United States lifted most sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry after Nicolas Maduro's government reached a deal with the opposition on the elections to be held this year.
In October 2023, the United States granted a six-month general license temporarily authorizing transactions involving the oil and gas sector in Venezuela. The license authorized the production, extraction, sale and export of oil or gas from Venezuela and the provision of related goods and services, as well as the payment of invoices for goods or services related to oil or gas sector operations in Venezuela. The country was returning to the world of oil trading.
The US Treasury Department had warned that sanctions would return to force if Maduro did not allow fair elections. It was only a temporary concession.
Last week, the United States reimposed oil sanctions on Venezuela after finding that Maduro and his representatives had not fully fulfilled their commitments ahead of the elections. The United States then allowed the general license authorizing transactions in Venezuelan oil to expire at 12:01 pm on April 18, but issued a 45-day license.
Polish Orlen has been waiting for months for the loads to be loaded. But after missing out on $400 million in advance payments for deliveries it never received and ahead of the return of sanctions, the Polish refinery canceled the contracts, the company's manager told Reuters.
The loading of six tankers, including three supertankers capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil, was initially scheduled for December and January. But it was not completed in March, the source said. In the end the Polish company understood that it had been fooled and, with the return of sanctions, closed the contract with a significant loss. “Pay money, see camel” seems to be the best policy anyway
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The article First effects of sanctions: the Orlen refinery cancels purchase contracts from Venezuela comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/primi-effetti-delle-sanzioni-la-raffineria-orlen-cancella-i-contratti-dacquisto-dal-venezuela/ on Wed, 24 Apr 2024 08:00:47 +0000.