How much naphtha does Venezuela historically import and from which countries?
Executive summary
Venezuela has long relied on imported diluents—especially naphtha—to make its extra‑heavy Orinoco crude transportable, with historical import flows often measured in tens of thousands of barrels per day and occasional spikes into the low hundreds of thousands of barrels for specific shipments or months [1] [2]. Major documented suppliers in recent years include the United States (historically dominant), Russia (increasingly prominent since 2023), and—earlier—Iranian condensate used as a substitute diluent; public sources do not provide a single continuous historical time series but offer snapshots that together define the pattern [2] [3] [4].
1. Early and historical pattern: U.S. dominated the trade for decades
For much of the modern era Venezuela’s diluent needs were met chiefly by U.S. naphtha exporters: tanker‑tracking and industry reporting showed roughly 80–113,000 barrels per day (bpd) of heavy naphtha deliveries in key years, with traders citing nearly 90,000 bpd as typical and spikes to about 113,000 bpd in heavy months [2]. The Congressional Research Service emphasized that about half of U.S. petroleum product exports to Venezuela—out of roughly 77,000 bpd of total products historically noted—were naphtha, underscoring how central U.S. naphtha was to blending operations [5].
2. Substitutions and shocks: Iran and Russia fill gaps when U.S. exports were constrained
When sanctions and geopolitical friction limited U.S. flows, Venezuela substituted other suppliers: Iranian condensate and light crude served as diluents between roughly 2020–2023, while shipping data and investigators later showed Russian naphtha deliveries becoming a significant source from 2023 onward [3] [4]. Reporting documents specific large Russian shipments in 2025 — for example a 700,000‑barrel cargo identified by vessel tracking and an asserted 419,000‑barrel Russian delivery cited for November — which indicate both one‑off large cargoes and meaningful month‑to‑month volumes beyond the historical U.S. baseline [4] [6].
3. Recent months and 2024–2025 behavior: intensified imports and supplier diversification
Industry and shipping‑data reporting from late 2024 and 2025 show Venezuela increasing diluent imports to stabilize exports after domestic processing setbacks, with light crude and fuel imports more than doubling in some months to roughly 167,000 bpd and documented use of Russian naphtha alongside U.S. volumes supplied by Chevron under specific authorizations [7] [8]. Analysts such as Kpler noted a visible pivot: U.S. naphtha supplied through legal carve‑outs ran through Jan‑23 to May‑25 while Russian volumes substituted thereafter, reflecting how sanctions, waivers and commercial ties reshaped sourcing [3] [7].
4. Quantities: ranges, peaks, and limits of public data
Public reporting gives a consistent range—tens of thousands of barrels per day historically (circa 80–113,000 bpd reported in industry trackers) and episodic spikes in individual shipments or monthly totals reaching several hundred thousand barrels (single cargoes of 700,000 barrels or monthly imports like 419,000 barrels are in the public record) [2] [4] [6]. No source in the provided reporting offers a unified, continuous multi‑decade time series of naphtha imports by year; therefore the most reliable statement is that Venezuela’s long‑run baseline was in the tens of thousands bpd with occasional higher‑volume shipments when operational needs or geopolitical dynamics required rapid replenishment [1] [2].
5. Who supplies Venezuela: the sourcing picture and political agendas
Reported suppliers include historically the United States (dominant exporter of heavy naphtha), Iran (condensate as diluent during 2020–2023), and Russia (documented naphtha cargoes and growing role from 2023–2025); individual private firms such as Chevron have been noted as supplying diluents to JV operations under U.S. licenses, while sanctions policy and strategic narratives drive divergent portrayals—Western outlets emphasize sanctions circumvention and energy security risks, while pro‑Regime or geopolitical commentators frame Russian/Iranian supplies as stabilizing alternatives [2] [3] [4] [8].
6. Bottom line and reporting gaps
Venezuela’s naphtha imports historically center on tens of thousands of barrels per day (roughly 80–113,000 bpd in notable years) with episodic large shipments into the hundreds of thousands of barrels; primary recent suppliers have been the U.S., Russia and earlier Iran, but comprehensive continuous historical totals are not present in the cited reporting, so precise annualized long‑term import tallies cannot be reconstructed from these sources alone [2] [4] [3] [5].