RoydadNaft –  Documents and vessel-tracking data show that Venezuela has exported about 7.8 million barrels of crude under its newly negotiated $2 billion supply deal with the United States, but the pace remains sluggish and well short of expectations.

Under terms of the agreement reached after the capture of President Nicolás Maduro in early January, Caracas and Washington authorized the sale of up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil stored in tanks and aboard vessels. Trading houses Vitol and Trafigura secured the first U.S. licenses to load and move cargoes from the OPEC nation. 

Despite the easing of a near-month-long U.S. export blockade, the additional supply has done little to reduce PDVSA’s inventories, which ballooned during the stoppage. State-run oil company PDVSA has not fully restored output after cutting production in early January because storage remains constrained. 

Market sources say sales have been weighed down by logistical challenges in transferring and storing oil, as well as refiners’ reluctance to pay the prices sought by traders. Initial offers of Venezuelan heavy crude were priced at discounts to Brent that remained less attractive than comparable Canadian crude, diminishing incentives for buyers in the U.S. and India. 

Seven tankers have left Venezuelan waters since Jan. 12, and much of the exported crude is being stored at Caribbean terminals, according to shipping data. While this has nudged total flows closer to conventional levels when including Chevron’s increased shipments, it has not meaningfully alleviated the backlog of stored oil. 

Officials said roughly $500 million in proceeds from early oil sales is being held in a U.S.-controlled fund, but future export volumes and mechanisms for reaching the full 50 million-barrel allocation remain unclear.