By Kejal Vyas and Benoit Faucon
A second tanker dispatched by Iran was welcomed Monday by
Venezuelan naval frigates and helicopters as it entered national
waters, a lifeline for embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás
Maduro that reflects the closer ties being forged between Tehran
and U.S. adversaries in Latin America.
The first of five tankers carrying 1.5 million barrels of
gasoline, the Fortune, arrived in the predawn hours at El Palito, a
refinery near Puerto Cabello, in defiance of U.S. sanctions that
largely prohibit oil trading with the fuel-starved country.
A second vessel, the Forest, was also expected to dock at El
Palito, where Venezuela is working to restart production,
Venezuelan Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami said Monday in a speech.
Three more tankers are set to arrive in the coming days
Mr. Maduro and his Iranian counterparts say they are working
together to outlast the Trump administration, which this spring
offered sanctions relief in return for Maduro handing over power to
a transitional government. Venezuela's foreign minister rejected
the plan.
"We are two rebel revolutionary peoples that are never going to
kneel before North American imperialism," Mr. Maduro said in a
televised address.
Venezuela has been left with little gasoline, diesel or propane
fuel for cooking, the result of an economic meltdown exacerbated by
mismanagement and rampant corruption at its once-vast network of
refineries. While hunger spreads, soup kitchens can't operate.
Farmers struggle to harvest their crops. And instead of combating
the coronavirus, some doctors spend hours in line to pump gas into
their cars.
Motorcyclists in Caracas often shut off their engines as they
coast down the city's hills to save fuel. On a recent day,
36-year-old David Miranda packed a coffee mug and two sandwiches
for himself before embarking on what would be a 21-hour wait in
line for gasoline for his car. He came away with less than five
gallons.
"Let's see if these famous little ships can make a difference,"
Mr. Miranda said, referring to the Iranian deliveries.
Gasoline has long been virtually free in Venezuela. But
shortages in recent months have spawned an illegal market. Military
officers routinely charge drivers more than $7 a gallon if they
want to avoid lines at service stations, steep for a country where
average citizens earn the equivalent of a few U.S. dollars a
month.
Iran's shipments -- valued at about $45 million -- may only
satisfy Venezuelan demand for a couple of weeks even if rationed,
said Venezuelan oil economist Orlando Ochoa.
But Elias Matta, an opposition lawmaker who leads the Venezuelan
congress's petroleum commission, said the fuel would fetch big
returns for military men who control gas pumps if distributed at
black-market prices. He estimated the street value at $477
million.
The other winner could be Cuba.
Venezuela's Information Ministry didn't immediately respond to
calls and emails seeking comment on potential shipments to Cuba or
the role of the armed forces in domestic gasoline distribution.
The arrival of the tankers to Venezuela prompted celebration
from the regime in Cuba, which has long been the recipient of
cut-rate Venezuelan oil in exchange for intelligence and military
assistance.
"Long live solidarity among the peoples," Cuban President Miguel
Díaz-Canel said Monday on his Twitter account. He thanked the
Iranians for "breaking the unacceptable and criminal blockade,"
referring to U.S. sanctions on Venezuela and the U.S. embargo
against Cuba.
As the Fortune moored at El Palito, an empty Cuban tanker, named
the Petion, had just anchored nearby, according to satellite data
from vessel tracker FleetMon.
"It's not a coincidence they are berthing next to each other,"
said Russ Dallen, who is a managing partner at the brokerage
Caracas Capital Markets and closely follows Venezuela's oil
industry. Mr. Dallen said Iran could now transfer some of the
gasoline to Cuba or its deliveries to Venezuela could free up
Venezuelan crude for delivery to the island.
While Venezuelan shipments to Cuba have fallen from their peak
of 100,000 barrels a day in previous years, Caracas has still
exported oil products to the island nation. In March, state oil
giant Petróleos de Venezuela SA exported 797,000 barrels of mostly
fuel, including diesel, to Cuba, according to customs and port
documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Some of the products
came from the Paraguana refinery complex, which Iran is helping
refurbish. Cubametales, the Cuban state-run company listed as the
products' importer, didn't respond to a request for comment.
Havana has also separately sought Iran's support for its
Venezuelan oil trade. Fifteen representatives from Cuba's Foreign
Ministry met oil officials in Tehran in May 2019, seeking to buy
three tankers to carry Venezuelan oil products, an Iranian official
said.
Cuba's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to detailed
emails seeking comment.
Short on available tankers, the Iranian official said his
government advised the Cuban delegation to buy second-hand vessels
in Greece. The Cubans took up the advice. Late last year, Caroil
Transport Marine Ltd., a Cuban-owned and Cyprus-registered company,
bought two vessels, the Giralt and the Esperanza, from Greek
companies, according to shipping records. Caroil also took control
of Pastorita, an oil-products tanker, from Singaporean-Danish
operators, the records show.
Caroil didn't return an emailed request for comment, and no one
responded at Trocana's office number.
The Cuban tanker docked at El Palito, the Petion, is listed as
being owned by a Panamanian company named Trocana World Inc. and
managed by Caroil.
But, according to Panama and Cyprus corporate documents,
Guillermo Lopez-Callejas is Trocana's president and a Caroil
director. He is the brother of Brigadier General Luis Alberto
Rodríguez Lopez-Callejas, the head of the Cuban military's powerful
business conglomerate and a former son-in-law of Raul Castro, the
first secretary of the Cuba's Communist Party and Mr. Díaz-Canel's
predecessor. The Lopez-Callejas brothers couldn't be reached.
"Iran is entering a new environment against Trump, giving him
problems on multiple fronts," Mr. Ochoa said. "Iran is taking the
bold move to show the world that they also have influence in an
area the U.S. considers its backyard."
--Ginette Gonzalez in Caracas contributed to this article.
Write to Kejal Vyas at kejal.vyas@wsj.com and Benoit Faucon at
benoit.faucon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 25, 2020 19:16 ET (23:16 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.