AP Sources: Shipping tycoon helps Venezuela in quest for gas

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Joshua Goodman and Scott Smith, Associated Press Writer
Updated 8:37 pm CDT, Friday, April 3, 2020

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — With gas 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.

. . .

Wilmer Ruperti’s Maroil Trading Inc. billed state-owned oil monopoly PDVSA 12 million euros last month for the purchase of up to 250,000 barrels of 95-octane gasoline, according to a copy of the invoice obtained by AP. The gasoline was purchased from an undisclosed Middle Eastern country, said two people familiar with the transaction. They agreed to discuss the sensitive dealings only on condition of anonymity.

. . .

Ruperti, a former oil tanker captain, has a history coming to the rescue of Venezuela’s socialist government at critical junctures, something that endeared him to the late President Hugo Chávez.

But his latest gambit, which could help stave off a deepening humanitarian crisis, is bound to irritate the Trump administration, which this week doubled down on its campaign of support for opposition leader Juan Guaidó by sending Navy ships to the Caribbean on a counternarcotics mission following Maduro's indictment in the U.S, on narcoterrorist charges.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/AP-Sources-Shipping-tycoon-helps-Venezuela-in-15177820.php

[Judi Lynn]

1. Interesting info. on Wilmer Ruperti from 2017:

AP Sources: Shipping tycoon helps Venezuela in quest for gas

By Joshua Goodman The Associated Press
Published: November 14, 2017
Updated: November 14, 2017
Caracas, Venezuela • A Utah man’s hopes for being freed from a Venezuelan jail, where he’s lingered for more than a year in declining health, now lie with a wealthy shipping magnate closely linked to the country’s socialist government.

. . .

The financial support for Holt’s legal defense against government prosecutors is even more remarkable because Ruperti is also underwriting the defense of President Nicolas Maduro’s two nephews in a separate, politically-charged U.S. narcotics trial, and he continues to do business with Maduro’s administration. Last year, one of his companies won a $138 million contract from the state oil company PDVSA to remove a 12 million metric ton dune of an oil byproduct used as fuel for power plants.

Ruperti, 57, declined a request for comment, but told the Wall Street Journal last year that he was helping defend the president’s family because he thought the U.S. charges were an attempt to destabilize Venezuela by portraying it as a narco-state.

. . .

Maduro’s nephews, Efrain Campos and Francisco Flores, were arrested by police in Haiti in 2015 and taken to New York, where they were convicted a year ago of conspiring to smuggle more than 1,700 pounds (800 kilograms) of cocaine into the U.S.

. . .

After staying silent for months about their son’s unlikely legal benefactor, Laurie and Jason Holt now credit Ruperti with pushing along a case they feared was being shoved under the rug by President Donald Trump’s rush to slap sanctions on both Venezuela and its senior officials.

More:
https://www.sltrib.com/news/nation-world/2017/11/14/venezuelan-tycoon-funds-jailed-utahn-josh-holts-defense/

[oldsoftie]

2. Hilarious. A country with the most oil running out of gas.

Maybe Dear Leader should've let the corporations handle that business instead of stealing it

[Judi Lynn]

3. It's Venezuela's oil, isn't it? By the way, winger trolls used to call Chavez "Dear Leader." n/t

[oldsoftie]

4. Calling a dictator "Dear Leader" is perfectly acceptable.

Yes, it IS their oil. Its hilarious that a country with so MUCH oil can RUN OUT OF GAS.

Thats like Trump running out of insults.

[The Magistrate]

5. Venezuelan Oil, Sir, Is Very Difficult To Refine

It is barely better in that regard than Canadian tar sands, and a quite different thing from the 'sweet crude' of the Middle East. It has been a while since I paid much attention to matters Venezuelan, but my recollection is they do not have much refining capacity in the country, and that most of the stuff was always shipped elsewhere for processing

[oldsoftie]

6. In that case, since they wont pay their bills they reap what they sow

Just like so many other services they stiffed. Maduro is worse than Trump when it comes to stiffing people.
If I owned a refinery i wouldnt send them a gallon of anything unless they paid up front

[The Magistrate]

7. That Would Be Your Priviledge, Sir

My intention was simply to supply information, as a shortage of gasoline is not so strange as it might seem.

If recollection serves, Conoco was the usual refiner, but I could be wrong.