Sanctions are designed to bar Maduro’s access to oil revenue that has helped his government remain in power. Venezuela was exporting about 1.4 million bpd in the months before sanctions, according to the Eikon data. Venezuela has sent its oil minister, Manuel Quevedo, to India to convince refiners, including Reliance Industries Ltd and Nayara Energy Ltd, to double their oil purchases. The latter supplies PDVSA oil to Vadinar, India’s second largest refinery, under a Rosneft payment for loan program that dates to 2014. Venezuela also is open to barter arrangements with India using oil as payment, its oil minister said, though Quevedo did not explain how such a system would work.

Source: Dhaka Tribune February 13, 2019 02:37 UTC