Venezuela bulks up roster of petroleum coke buyers amid audit

Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA recently approved at least three new buyers of its petroleum coke, expanding a customer roster amid an audit of billions of dollars in unpaid bills, according to documents and people close to the matter. PDVSA accumulated $21.2 billion in commercial accounts receivable since 2020, documents viewed by Reuters revealed last month.

Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA recently approved at least three new buyers of its petroleum coke, expanding a customer roster amid an audit of billions of dollars in unpaid bills, according to documents and people close to the matter.

PDVSA accumulated $21.2 billion in commercial accounts receivable since 2020, documents viewed by Reuters revealed last month. The receivables are from little known middlemen recruited to export its oil and byproducts after larger firms stopped doing business with Venezuela in the face of U.S. sanctions. The account review has included Geneva-based Maroil Trading, owned by shipping magnate Wilmer Ruperti and the largest exporter of Venezuelan petroleum coke, an oil processing byproduct known as petcoke. Last September, Maroil had taken over sales of almost all exports of petcoke from PDVSA's main terminal, a move that reduced risks for final buyers as Maroil is not under sanctions.

"PDVSA's trade and supply division is making steps to remove any commercial exclusivity" in petcoke, one of the people said, noting that Maroil has not stopped receiving cargoes, nor has PDVSA suspended it as a partner. Under a 2017 contract for developing a petcoke rail conveyor system in Venezuela, Maroil received rights to 12 million metric tonnes of the oil byproduct, then valued at $11.50 per tonne, or $138 million, Winston & Strawn LLP which represents the company told Reuters this week.

Maroil most likely will commercialize less than the 12 million tonnes because the price of petcoke has climbed since the contract was signed. However, the parties still must calculate the fair market value of each shipment at the time it was commercialized, Winston & Strawn said. "The purported billing by PDVSA is not an invoice to be paid, but rather a determination of the value of the commercialized product" for calculating how much of the contract value has been satisfied, a Winston & Strawn attorney said.

Boosted by Maroil's sales, Venezuela's petcoke exports rose six-fold to 3.3 million tonnes last year, internal PDVSA documents showed. Another company that bought Venezuelan petcoke last year, United Arab Emirates-registered Walker International DWC-LLC, also was listed by PDVSA as a debtor. PDVSA had accounts receivables of $92.5 million from that company until March, according to documents seen by Reuters.

NEWCOMERS The new buyers registered by PDVSA in recent months include a unit of Caracas-based Nazarovo Industrial, whose webpage identifies it as a Venezuelan company.

Nazarovo was allocated a petcoke cargo for April delivery, according to one of the documents. A vessel that arrived in Venezuelan waters in March is set to carry 30,000 metric tonnes for exports, Refinitiv Eikon data showed. Latif Petrol LTD, another buyer added to PDVSA's customer registry, was recently assigned its first 48,000-tonne cargo. The shipment departed for China on March 23, according to the documents and data.

Latif Petroleum's webpage is under construction and does not provide details about the company. Dalfa Trading DWC also was recently added to PDVSA's customer database and assigned a 50,000-tonne cargo that has not departed, one of the people said.

PDVSA last year sold petcoke occasionally to China's Rezel Catalysts Corp, Maxi Tankers Oil and Gas LTD, Merco Commodities Trading LTD and Panama's Info Trading SA. They also have been allocated cargoes in recent weeks, according to the source and documents. In all cases where new contracts were signed and cargoes allocated, PDVSA has negotiated spot prices of at least $100 per tonne of petcoke, above the $43-82 per tonne paid by clients last year, according to the source and documents.

Nazarovo, Latif Petrol, Rezel Catalysts, Maxi Tankers and PDVSA did not reply to requests for comment. Reuters could not reach Dalfa Trading, Merco Commodities, Info Trading and Walker International. A probe ordered by Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in October that has led to the arrests of more than 50 people is focused on how some oil cargoes left without full payments. It has led to contract suspensions and a large audit of accounts receivable.

Winston & Strawn said Maroil is "not aware of any impact" to its business from the probe or PDVSA's addition of new petcoke buyers.

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