Overview
- Multiple outlets citing Bloomberg report a crude cargo is headed to Bazan Group, Israel’s largest refiner.
- Venezuelan Foreign Minister Miguel Pérez Pirela labeled the report “FAKE,” and neither Caracas nor Israeli officials have confirmed the sale.
- If confirmed, it would be the first Venezuelan delivery to Israel since mid-2020 according to Kpler data, though some coverage frames it as the first since ties were cut in 2009.
- Israel typically withholds the origins of its crude imports and tankers can drop off public tracking near its ports, complicating independent verification.
- The reporting follows U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro and heightened U.S. oversight of Venezuelan exports, with a new Treasury license excluding China and Russia, proceeds routed to a restricted account in Qatar, and recent shipments noted to India, Spain and the United States.