An oil tanker in Lake Maracaibo, one of Venezuela’s strategic oil regions. The Boscan Oil Field is found close to its shores, in the state of Zulia. Photo: Wilfredor.
Guacamaya, May 16, 2025. Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA has started to export heavy crude that has been shipped by Chevron since 2022, according to data accessed by Reuters.
A cargo of 920,000 barrels of Boscan crude set sail earlier this month for Malaysia, which serves as a trans-shipping hub for Venezuelan crude bound for China.
In April, cargoes for Chevron were halted after the U.S. Treasury cancelled their license to operate in Venezuela’s oil sector. The energy giant is therefore unable to make payments to Caracas, so PDVSA even ordered the return of some Chevron tankers.
Boscan crude comes from an onshore field with the same name, believed to hold reserves of 25 billion barrels. It is operated by a joint venture of Chevron and PDVSA. The field was first discovered by the very same U.S. corporation and has been producing since 1947.
Reuters also corrected its previous estimate that Venezuela’s oil exports had fallen by 20% in April. Instead, they would be down 10% from the previous month, at 780,000 bpd. This is despite the fact that Chevron was not able to ship crude since April 2; most exports therefore landed in China.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said on May 7 that the decision on whether to allow US oil companies to operate in Venezuela is a balancing act.
Before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, he said that “It is a very acute balancing act there between displacing China with US entities providing foreign currency to the Maduro regime.”
