Oil providers ask Venezuela’s PDVSA for cargo prepayments -sources

Big oil suppliers have started requiring prepayment when selling cargoes of crude and refined products to Venezuela’s PDVSA, in an effort to limit potential risks from the state-run company’s well-known cashflow woes, five sources from firms involved in the deals told Reuters. One international trading firm, which has had strong commercial ties with PDVSA, has decided to limit future spot sales to the company over worries that even a prepayment agreement would carry risks, two of the sources said. The Venezuelan company has ramped up tenders on the open market this year to import crude and diluents for its extra heavy oil output, but payments are taking a long time to arrive because low oil prices have crimped revenues, the sources said. More…