Russian diluent heads for Venezuela via Gibraltar STS
Nearly 1m tonnes of diluent — used to reduce the viscosity of heavy crude oil so it can be transported for export — was exported from Russia to either Venezuela or Aruba in the final quarter of 2019, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence data. That compares with less than 270,000 tonnes in the prior quarter
Vessel tracking shows that state-owned Russian oil company Rosneft is supplying diluent via multiple ship-to-ship transfer shipments and voyages in which vessels ‘go dark’