Petroperú Buys Venezuelan Oil for First Time in 17 Years
Key Points
— Petroperú purchased two cargoes totaling 1 million barrels of blended Venezuelan Merey 16 and US WTI crude via Trafigura for April–May delivery — the first Venezuelan oil purchase by Peru since 2009
— Separately, Petroperú contracted nearly 500,000 barrels of Bayou Choctaw crude from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, also via Trafigura, which has borrowed approximately 9 million barrels from US emergency stocks since the Iran war began
— The purchases reflect the war-driven scramble for crude as traditional Gulf supply routes are disrupted — Peru normally buys heavy oil from Ecuador, but the conflict has forced refineries worldwide to tap unconventional sources
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The Petroperú Venezuelan oil purchase is a small transaction with large symbolic weight: a South American state refiner buying crude from a country it had avoided for 17 years, blended with oil from the US strategic reserve, routed through Curaçao — all because a war 10,000 kilometers away has scrambled the global supply map.
Bloomberg reported that Petroperú contracted the Venezuelan-US blended cargoes through Trafigura Group, the Swiss commodity trader designated by Washington to handle Venezuelan oil exports under the sanctions relief framework. The two cargoes total 1 million barrels of a Merey 16/WTI mix, with Curaçao serving as the blending and logistics hub. Delivery is scheduled for April and May. Petroperú confirmed the purchase to Bloomberg. Separately, the state company acquired nearly 500,000 barrels of Bayou Choctaw crude — oil that normally sits in Louisiana as part of the US government’s emergency stockpile — from the same trader, as reported by Gestión (Peru) and Bloomberg Línea.
Peru’s three refineries traditionally rely on heavy crude from neighboring Ecuador. The war-driven disruption to Gulf shipping routes and the broader scramble for supply have forced refineries across the world to seek alternatives at unprecedented distances. Trafigura has borrowed approximately 9 million barrels from US emergency reserves since the conflict began, making it a key intermediary in the redistribution of supply that the ceasefire briefly paused but has not resolved.
The Venezuelan component is politically notable. Peru had not purchased Venezuelan crude since 2009, a period that spanned the Chávez, Maduro, and now Rodríguez governments. The resumption became possible because of the Trump administration’s decision to lift sanctions and reestablish relations with Caracas — the same rapprochement that is projected to fuel Venezuela’s 12% GDP growth this year. The purchase arrives two days before Peru’s presidential election, in which state oil company Petroperú’s future is itself a campaign issue: frontrunner López Aliaga has pledged to privatize it.
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