Venezuela buys more US gasoline since 2011

While Venezuelan oil exports from state-run holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) to the United States go downhill, a hike in the volume of gasoline bought from the United States has been recorded since December 2011.

Data of the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy show that in December 2011, Venezuela imported one million barrels of finished gasoline from the United States. This accounts for approximately 11.3% of the total demand of the Venezuelan domestic market, nearing 8.79 million monthly barrels ending last year.

December 2011 numbers are tantamount to the imports of gasoline from the United States in February 2003, following the oil strike staged throughout Venezuela. At that time, exactly 1.01 million barrels a month were purchased.

On aggregate, the purchase of crude oil and byproducts from the United States in December 2011 stood for 2.21 million barrels, 152% over the purchases recorded in December 2010, for a total of 875,000 barrels.

As quoted by Efe, the numbers of last April produced by the US Department of Energy point to exports to Venezuela for 1.62 million barrels of refined products, including gasoline, heavy fuel, liquefied gas and additives.