Venezuela Resumes Oil Shipments to Israel 0 13

Venezuela has sold a batch of oil to Israel for the first time in years. Bloomberg reports the resumption of shipments citing sources.

The cargo of crude has been transferred to the largest crude oil refiner in the Jewish state, Bazan Group. The oil was shipped following the arrest of the president of the Latin American country, Nicolás Maduro.

Israel does not publicly disclose where it sources its crude oil, and tankers sometimes disappear from digital tracking systems as they approach the country's ports. According to Kpler, the current shipment will be the first since mid-2020, when Israel received about 470,000 barrels.

Before Maduro's arrest, most of the oil produced in Venezuela was sold to China. In the past month, shipments have been made to buyers in India, Spain, the United States, and now Israel.

As Bloomberg reported, Indian oil giant Reliance Industries has resumed purchasing Venezuelan oil. This involves one very large crude carrier with a cargo of about two million barrels. Imports resumed after a break that began in mid-2025. Prior to this, Reliance had been buying oil from Venezuela under a U.S. sanctions exemption.