INTERNATIONAL – In an unexpected twist on the high seas, two massive China-flagged supertankers bound for Venezuelan ports to collect crude oil tied to debt repayment suddenly reversed course and headed back toward Asia, according to LSEG shipping data reported by Reuters.
The very large crude carriers Xingye and Thousand Sunny had been anchored off the Atlantic Ocean for weeks, idle and waiting for instructions amid the tightening grip of U.S. sanctions and political turmoil in Venezuela. Their planned mission was not just another oil pickup, but a crucial element of Caracas’s complex oil-for-loans arrangement with Beijing: crude shipments that serve as compensation for Venezuela’s mounting debt to China, a financial lifeline established after sanctions cut Caracas off from much of the global financial system.
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The abrupt U-turns of these vessels reflect more than navigational indecision. They underscore the profound uncertainty enveloping Venezuelan crude flows, even after recent announcements from Washington that appeared to open a sliver of export opportunity. Last week, the U.S. administration unveiled a deal to allow up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil, languishing in storage due to sanctions, to be exported, and President Donald Trump asserted that Beijing would still receive crude under the arrangement. However, he provided little detail on how this would actually work.
Despite that statement, there have been no oil cargoes shipped directly from Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA to China since December, as Washington maintains that the embargo is still fully in force. This has forced global commodity traders such as Vitol and Trafigura to step in, preparing shipments under the newly announced deal that could be routed not only to the United States but also to India and, potentially, China — if commercial negotiations align.
The stalled voyage of Xingye and Thousand Sunny shines a spotlight on how deeply geopolitical pressure can ripple through global energy supply chains, especially when strategic interests, sanctions policy and debt diplomacy collide. The trio of tankers dedicated to the Venezuela-China route were once at the heart of a system that saw Beijing as the largest destination for Venezuelan crude, accounting for about three-quarters of Caracas’s exports in 2025. But with those shipments now in limbo and Washington asserting control, China’s access to Venezuelan oil — and the broader future of Caracas’s oil industry — hangs in the balance.
