{
  "id": 2414064,
  "title": "Tankers Wait a Month as Venezuela Hits an Oil Export Ceiling",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/21/tankers-wait-a-month-as-venezuela-hits-an-oil-export-ceiling",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-21T18:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "OilPrice",
    "slug": "oilprice",
    "url": "https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Tankers-Wait-a-Month-as-Venezuela-Hits-an-Oil-Export-Ceiling.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Venezuela's oil export capacity is facing a significant bottleneck, causing tankers to wait up to 30 days for loading, according to Reuters. The issue stems from aging port infrastructure, power outages, and concerns over the quality of crude, which has created a de facto ceiling of around 1.25 million barrels per day. Despite rising production and inventory drawdowns, PDVSA and its partners have struggled to surpass this limit. The situation is particularly challenging for the U.S., as it has been urging the revival of Venezuelan production and exports since the ousting of Nicolas Maduro in January. Over 500,000 barrels per day are already being shipped to U.S. refineries, primarily through Gulf Coast plants tailored for handling the country's heavy, sour crude. Major traders Vitol and Trafigura have already exported over 140 million barrels of Venezuelan crude and fuel since January under a deal with Washington. However, loading interruptions at facilities like Jose, which handles about 70% of Venezuela's exports, have hampered the process due to equipment failures, power outages, and quality issues. At Guaraguao, only two of seven docks were fully operational in mid-August. Some berth space is even occupied by old sanctioned tankers that never left during Venezuela's years in the shadows. This situation is causing customers to compete for terminal access while PDVSA accumulates demurrage charges for vessels awaiting longer than their loading windows. PDVSA has agreed to pay some of these penalties in crude. The problem could worsen as PDVSA partners start marketing their production independently under Venezuela's new oil contract rules. While Washington is promoting a $100 billion reconstruction of Venezuela's energy sector, the focus has primarily been on increasing crude production. However, this approach may not be as effective when the port needed to export the additional barrel is already occupied.",
  "summary": "Venezuela has plenty of oil buyers again. What it does not have is enough functioning port infrastructure to get them their crude. Tankers are waiting as long as 30 days to load Venezuelan oil as aging terminals, power outages and crude-quality problems create a de facto ceiling on exports, according to Reuters. That ceiling appears to be around 1.25 million barrels per day. PDVSA and its…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}