CARACAS, Venezuela -- With gasoline lines across Venezuela growing, a controversial shipping magnate has stepped in to prevent the country from running out of fuel amid the coronavirus pandemic, The Associated Press has learned.
The fuel shortage, in the nation that sits atop the world's largest crude reserves, is the latest threat to Nicolas Maduro's rule at a time when he's under intense U.S. pressure to resign.
Wilmer Ruperti's Maroil Trading Inc. billed $13 million to state-owned oil monopoly PDVSA last month for the purchase of up to 250,000 barrels of 95-octane gasoline, according to a copy of the invoice obtained by the AP. The gasoline was purchased from an undisclosed Middle Eastern country, said two people familiar with the transaction on the condition of anonymity to discuss the dealings.
The single gas shipment isn't going to resolve Venezuela's supply problems. But with the economy paralyzed, any amount of fuel that arrives will come as welcome relief, analysts said.
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Ruperti, a former oil tanker captain, has a history of coming to the rescue of Venezuela's socialist revolution at critical junctures, something that endeared him to the late Hugo Chavez.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's administration, which last week doubled down on its campaign in support of opposition leader Juan Guaido, is sending naval ships to the Caribbean on a counternarcotics mission following Maduro's indictment in New York on narcoterrorist charges.
Venezuela's oil fields and refineries have crumbled from years of mismanagement. More recently, fuel imports have dried up as the Trump administration tightened sanctions against Maduro, targeting two trading houses owned by Russia's Rosneft for providing a lifeline to the embattled leader. Then came the coronavirus, which sent crude prices crashing globally and paralyzed what little was left of domestic production.
"In Venezuela, the only thing spreading faster than the coronavirus are the gasoline shortages," said Russ Dallen, head of Caracas Capital Markets, a brokerage.
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In recent days, gas lines have popped up across Caracas, which is typically immune from days' long waits common in the rest of the country. But most stations had closed as supplies ran out.
At one of the few gas stations still open in the capital Thursday, hundreds of cars, taxis and a flatbed trucks hugged the shoulder of a highway as heavily armed soldiers stared down motorists, some of whom had been waiting three days to fill up.
The government blames U.S. aggression for the gas shortages. On Friday, it said it was formulating a "special fuel supply plan" to restore stockpiles in the "shortest possible time," allowing the nation to combat the coronavirus.
"We deplore the position of extremist sectors of the Venezuelan opposition that collude with foreign governments to plan and execute these actions against the Venezuelan people," said Industry Minister Tareck El Aissami, the top economics adviser to Maduro. "History will mercilessly judge these traitors."
Enter Ruperti, who the leftist revolution has leaned on before to get it out of economic jams.
Ruperti declined to comment when contacted by the AP.
While U.S. sanctions have driven away from Venezuela many established shipping companies and commodity traders, Ruperti appears to be little fazed.
One of the documents obtained by AP shows his Swiss-based Maroil Trading AG opened accounts in dollars, euros and rubles at Moscow-based Derzhava Bank in November. One person said the gas that Maroil billed to PDVSA is en route and should arrive to Venezuela in the coming days.
Dallen estimates that it's enough to supply Venezuela's current demand for little more than a week.
A Section on 04/05/2020