Since November 2020, China has been importing millions of barrels of Venezuela oil in repayment of debts to Beijing under the presidency of Hugo Chavez Caracas, despite US sanctions. This was reported by Reuters, citing three sources and data tracking tanker movements.

Since late fall 2020, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) has received 13 shipments of about 25 million barrels of oil each. The total value of the shipments is estimated at $1.5 billion. At the same time, one of the sources said that at the Chinese customs the origin of raw materials was not disclosed, the name of the cargoes was indicated as “crude oil”.

Venezuela’s debt to China dates to 2007, when the Latin American country was led by President Hugo Chavez. Then Caracas borrowed $50 billion from Beijing in exchange for oil supplies. However, the amount outstanding as of the end of August 2022 is unknown.

The Venezuelan oil industry is known to be affected by sanctions and restrictions. On August 13, Reuters reported that Venezuela stopped crude oil supplies to Europe, asking Italian Eni and Spanish Repsol to supply it with fuel in exchange for future energy supplies. Oil and gas company PDVSA is “no longer interested” in the oil-for-debt swap deals authorized by the U.S. State Department in May.

Earlier we reported on the complete failure of Washington’s energy policy in the Middle East.