Venezuela’s PDVSA authorizes first two oil cargoes to India after sanctions relief By Reuters

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has assigned loading windows this month to two vessels bound for India under crude spot deals with Italy’s ENI (BIT:) and U.S.-based Chevron (NYSE:) following a temporary relief of U.S. sanctions on the country, a company document showed.

Indian refiners including Reliance Industries, Indian Oil Corp and HPCL-Mittal Energy (HMEL) have been looking for Venezuelan crude cargoes to buy since Washington eased the sanctions in October. Some refiners have agreed to purchase deals with trading houses that had access to Venezuelan oil, while others are set to buy from PDVSA’s partners.