Venezuela is sending its first oil shipment to Israel in years, just one month after the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
The crude cargo is bound for Bazan Group Ltd., Israel’s largest oil refiner, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. It would mark the first Venezuelan oil shipment to Israel since mid-2020, when the country delivered roughly 470,000 barrels, according to the outlet.
In the wake of Maduro’s capture, President Donald Trump said the U.S. would effectively “run” Venezuela until a “judicious” political transition could take place and pledged to exert tighter control over the country’s oil sector.
“One of the things the United States gets out of this will be even lower energy prices,” Trump told oil executives at the White House in January.
Prior to the dictator’s arrest, Moscow and Beijing had long sought influence over Venezuela’s oil industry, with the bulk of the country’s crude exports flowing to China in recent years.
Trump announced in January that Venezuela’s interim government plans to ship between 30 million and 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S., with proceeds earmarked for American farm products, medicines, medical equipment, and upgrades to Venezuela’s energy infrastructure.
In the aftermath of the regime change, the Trump administration demanded that interim President Delcy Rodríguez — whom the administration backed over opposition leader María Corina Machado — cut economic ties with China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba.
The U.S. military is also enforcing a blockade on sanctioned tankers carrying Venezuelan oil, seizing multiple vessels accused of attempting to evade the restrictions.
Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright plans to travel to Venezuela to discuss the future of its state-run oil company PDVSA, according to Politico.
Neither the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Bazan Group responded to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.
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