Russian State Oil Company Rosneft, in Sudden Move, Sells Assets in Venezuela

“They will probably not want to put the money down,” said Antero Alvarado, a Caracas-based oil consultant.

“They will guard the assets and wait to see what happens,” he said, referring to volatility in the global oil markets and political instability in Venezuela.

David L. Goldwyn, the State Department’s top energy diplomat in the first Obama administration, said that the move would further limit Venezuelan revenue from oil exports.

Rosneft has been trading Venezuelan oil to small refineries in China, in violation of United States sanctions. While in theory another Russian company could do the same, it could not do so immediately in the absence of Rosneft’s sophisticated trading systems — which would choke off a source of revenue for Mr. Maduro’s government.

Mr. Goldwyn called the sale a “victory for U.S. sanctions.” Coupled with a crash in global oil prices, he said, the sanctions had made it “worthless for Rosneft to trade in Venezuelan crude.”

A spokesman for Rosneft, Mikhail Leontyev, said in an interview with Russia’s Interfax news agency that the sale was necessary for his company to continue doing business internationally.

“Being a public, international company, we took a decision that was in the interest of our shareholders,” Mr. Leontyev said. “Now, we have the right to expect American regulators to deliver on the promises that they have publicly made.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/world/americas/venezuela-rosneft-oil.html