The US President Donald Trump has announced that any countries purchasing oil or gas from Venezuela could face 25% tariffs on all trades with the US. Besides the US, China, India and Spain are top costumers of Venezuelan crude.
The new threat puts pressure on China as the top buyer of Venezuelan crude and the threat on Ven-crud comes days after the fourth round of sanctions against Iran, which also hit Chinese companies and teapot refiners in the east.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined an expanded view of potential activities that could trigger tariff action.
In a statement, Rubio said tariffs could target “any country that allows its companies to produce, extract, or export from Venezuela,” indicating a handful of intermediary nations could be affected. The tariffs are set to go into effect “on or after” Apr. 2.
The US oil major Chevron is a significant player in Venezuela and their activity is not affected by the tariff or sanctions, nether are any flow of Ven-crude into the US.
Figure 1. West Texas Intermediate the Last Five Days.
US Crude inventories and production.
US commercial crude oil inventories decreased by 3.3 million barrels in the week ending March 21, with market forecasters predicting between 1 and 1,5 million barrel-decrease in crude stocks. U.S. commercial crude oil inventories are about 5 percent below the five-year average for this time of year and 14.6 million barrels lower than a year ago. U.S. crude oil refinery inputs averaged 15.8 million barrels per day during the week ending March 21, 2025, 87 000 bpd more compared to the previous week`s average. Refineries operated at 87 percent of their operable capacity last week.
Figure 2. US Crude Stocks including SPR at 829.8 million Barrels.
Figure 3. US Crude Stocks Excluding SPR at 433.6 million Barrels.
US Rig Activity.
The total number of active rigs operating in the US according to Baker Hughes rig count increased by one last week, currently at 593. Oil focused rigs decreased by one last week, at 486 active rigs. Gas focused rigs increased by two, now at 102 active rigs. Miscellaneous was flat last week still at five active rigs.
Figure 4. Active Oil Focused Rigs Decreased Last Week now at 486
Figure 5. Gas Focused Rigs Increased from 100 to 102 Active Rigs.
Figure 6. Total Active Rigs in the U.S. Increased by One Last Week, now at 593.
Figure 7. Rig Count in Major Basins.
Baker Hughes has issued the rotary rig counts as a service to the petroleum industry since 1944, when Baker Hughes Tool Company began weekly counts of U.S. and Canadian drilling activity. Baker Hughes initiated the monthly international rig count in 1975. The North American rig count is released weekly at noon Central Time on the last day of the work week.
By the Numbers March 26, 2025.
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This report is under no circumstances intended to be used for or considered as investment advice. This report is to be used as information and general market guidance. The author, GE Briefings and Investornytt cannot guarantee that the information from sources is without incentives, but the author has taken considerable care to ensure that, and to the best of his knowledge, material information contained in the report is in accordance with the facts and contains no omission likely to affect its understanding. Please note that this report is the author’s own research, opinions and conclusions, and the readers are recommended to draw their own conclusions based on other sources than this report, the facts and market picture can change in an instant and therefore the reader must do their own due diligence. The author, GE Briefings and Investornytt cannot be held responsible for the readers investments based on this report.
