Venezuelan crude exports rebound as sanctions push trade to compliant fleet: Teekay Tankers in Freight News 23/02/2026 Venezuelan crude exports are expected to return to a typical run rate of 800,000 b/d, as the country shifts away from dark fleet tankers following a US naval blockade that has boosted demand for compliant vessels in the region and supported spot rates, executives at Teekay Tankers said Feb. 19. “Just looking at where it’s tracking in February, we’re already back up to about 700,000 b/d of exports,” Christian Waldegrave, director of research and commercial performance, said during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call. “And it’s all going on non-sanctioned ships primarily to the U.S. South Caribbean region, but we’ve also seen two or three cargoes to Europe. And we know that India is starting to buy some barrels as well,” he added. The uptick in demand for newly compliant Venezuelan crude has re-directed the country’s oil trade away from sanctioned vessels to compliant tankers, primarily Aframaxes serving US Gulf and Caribbean destinations. This has created additional ton-mile demand in a market already supported by near-record global seaborne oil trade volumes, according to Teekay CEO Kenneth Hvid. “Looking at our first quarter to date, the tanker market has continued to strengthen, and we have secured spot rates of $79,800, $56,900 and $51,400 per day for our VLCC, Suezmax and Aframax LR2 fleets, respectively,” Hvid added. After falling to 500,000 b/d in December and January, a full recovery in the country’s exports would amount to around an extra 500,000 b/d shipped from Venezuela to the US Gulf, creating demand for approximately 20 Aframaxes, according to Teekay. Venezuelan crude exports averaged 800,000 b/d in 2025, but plummeted after the US naval blockade began late December 2025, eliminating long-haul flows to China that had been moving on dark fleet vessels at a rate of 550,000 b/d, but now have fallen to zero. “I think there’s an expectation as well that, with the Venezuelan oil industry opening up and foreign companies coming in and doing more investment, that production and exports could be boosted within the year by another 200,000 to 300,000 b/d,” Waldegrave said. S&P Global Commodities at Sea(opens in a new tab) data shows Venezuelan crude exports at 666,000 b/d (20.6 million barrels) in December 2025 and 637,000 b/d (19.7 million barrels) in January 2026. Month to date, February exports total 11.5 million barrels. Notably, Venezuela has sent around 1.9 million barrels of crude to China this month, alongside 4.1 million barrels to the US and 1 million barrels each to Spain, St Lucia and the US Virgin Islands, according to CAS data. Sanctions push vessels to compliant trade The Venezuelan situation is part of a broader trend of sanctions pushing more global seaborne oil trade to compliant fleets. Sanctioned barrels at sea, including both tankers in transit and oil in floating storage, have increased more than 70% over the past 12 months as Russia and Iran face mounting difficulties shipping oil. “Buyers of Russian and Iranian barrels are having to find alternative sources of oil using the compliant fleet in order to compensate for the loss of sanctioned oil,” Hvid said. India became the top buyer of Russian crude over the past two to three years, with imports averaging 1.6 million b/d in 2025, Hvid said. However, sanctions on Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil, coupled with an EU ban on refined p