Sources: Conoco Expected To Soon Temporarily Seize PDVSA Curacao Assets

As of Monday, less than a dozen tankers were near Curacao and only one was close to Bonaire, most of them empty, according to Reuters vessel tracking data. At least nine tankers have been moved since Friday from those Caribbean islands to Venezuela or Cuba, the data showed.

To compensate for the loss of Caribbean operations, PDVSA could widen shipping from its main crude port, Jose, and smaller terminals along its Western Coast. But Jose is facing a growing bottleneck of vessels due to lack of inventories for exports, equipment malfunctions and shortage of staff, shippers said.

Two dozen oil tankers were waiting on Monday to load crude at Jose for exports, according to the Reuters data, double the normal amount of tankers.

On Bonaire, some fuel stored at PDVSA's oil terminal will be released for local use under a deal struck late Sunday between Dutch authorities and Conoco, said Karim Mostafi, a spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure.

"Through a joint effort, we could avoid a power-down on the island," Mostafi said. The release will provide 1-2 weeks' worth of supply for the island's power station and there are talks underway for a longer term solution, he said.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga and Gary McWilliams; editing by Phil Berlowitz and Grant McCool)


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