By Marianna Parraga, Luc Cohen and Deisy Buitrago
MEXICO CITY/CARACAS, July 8 (Reuters) - With U.S. sanctions
blocking Venezuela from selling oil to the United States,
state-owned energy firm PDVSA has turned to several little-known
buyers that include a tiny Turkish company with no refineries
but ties to President Nicolas Maduro's government, according to
internal documents and a PDVSA source.
Until recently, some of the world's largest petroleum and
refining firms, including U.S. companies Chevron CVX.N and
Valero Energy VLO.N , lined up to take Venezuelan oil cargoes
and PDVSA had a rigorous vetting process to ensure potential
buyers had the capacity to pay.
But U.S. sanctions imposed in January in an effort to oust
Maduro have driven away many of those customers. PDVSA's exports
have slumped by more than a fifth since sanctions were imposed,
according to company records and Refinitiv Eikon data. Its
biggest buyers today are Chinese and Indian companies.
Three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that
directors at a March 14 meeting of PDVSA's board temporarily
waived some requirements for new customers or suppliers,
including that of having at least two years' experience in the
oil industry.
Neither PDVSA nor Venezuela's oil ministry responded to
requests for comment for this story.
In the wake of the changes, a Turkish company called Grupo
Iveex Insaat started buying Venezuelan oil in April, according
to documents related to PDVSA loading plans and internal reports
on exports and imports for the first half of the year reviewed
by Reuters.
Istanbul Chamber of Commerce records show that Iveex Insaat
was formed less than a year ago with capital of just 10,000 lira
($1,775) and listed "residential construction" as its main
activity.
It was one of only five firms that loaded tankers to take
Venezuela's upgraded crude - among its most valuable oil - from
April through June, the documents showed. Iveex loaded four
cargoes of Venezuelan crude and products in April - equivalent
to just under 8 percent of Venezuela's oil exports - and nothing
in May or June, according to PDVSA documents.
Turkish corporate records show Iveex Insaat is owned by
Miguel Silva, a Venezuelan businessman who heads the
Caracas-based Venezuelan Exporters' Chamber and also served as a
housing ministry commissioner in Maduro's administration.
Reuters was unable to determine the terms under which Iveex
Insaat is receiving Venezuelan oil and was unable to confirm who
would ultimately buy and refine the crude, as the company has no
refineries.
Neither Iveex Insaat nor Silva responded to requests for
comment.
The PDVSA source, a shipping broker and a maritime inspector
- all of whom declined to be named - told Reuters that Iveex had
agreed to deliver refined products to Venezuela in exchange for
receiving crude. With its refinery network crippled by
maintenance issues, the OPEC nation has struggled with severe
fuel shortages in recent months.
The two other companies that only began chartering tankers
to take PDVSA's oil after sanctions hit are Panama-registered
Melaj Offshore Corp and Sahara Energy, a unit of Nigeria-based
Sahara Group. The two loaded PDVSA oil cargoes shortly after the
sanctions were announced, internal company documents show.
Sahara Energy did not respond to emails and calls to request
comment. Reuters was unable to find contact details for Melaj.
TIES WITH TURKEY
The deals with Iveex highlight growing commercial links
between Venezuela and Turkey, whose President Tayyip Erdogan has
stood by Maduro, alongside Russia, Cuba and China.
Turkey is one of the main buyers of the South American
country's gold, which has become an important source of cash as
oil output falls. Silva registered Iveex Insaat with a Turkish partner named
Erhan Kap on Sept. 27, 2018, just a week after Maduro visited
Istanbul. Kap, who is an Istanbul tour guide according to his social
media profiles, declined to comment when reached by phone.
According to Silva's biography on the Iveex website, Silva
has had a number of posts within Maduro's administration,
including serving in the national Housing Ministry in 2014 and
coordinating a government development plan for the western state
of Tachira in 2013.
Venezuela's information ministry - which responds to media
requests on the government's behalf - did not respond to an
email seeking comment.
Iveex's website says it is a "physical commodity trading and
distribution company" focused on petroleum products and crude
oil with offices in London, Istanbul and Caracas. It says it
uses a "leased fleet of regional vessels."
While the website describes "long experience" in oil trading
and distribution, a review of previous iterations of the site
using the Internet Archive shows references to petroleum trading
were added after November 2018.
PDVSA sold barrels for the first time to Iveex Insaat in
April, when it loaded the tanker Seamuse with 294,413 barrels of
natural gasoline and light virgin naphtha bound for the Middle
East, trade documents from PDVSA show.
The vessel has not yet discharged and remains anchored near
a Kuwaiti port, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. Days later, a
similar cargo was loaded for Iveex on the tanker Vinjerac.
The Turkish firm also loaded the tankers Delta Kanaris and
Delta Harmony with more than 1 million barrels each of Hamaca
crude, an upgraded oil that PDVSA has struggled to sell because
its primary market was the United States.
However, these three vessels remain anchored off Venezuelan
ports. PDVSA has not allowed them to sail until Iveex delivers
at least one of several fuel cargoes intended to offset the
first cargo it took, the PDVSA source and two shipping sources
said.
($1 = 5.6346 liras)