America imported no oil from Venezuela last week. [View all]

[MRubio]

America's once-robust imports of crude oil from Venezuela have ground to a halt because of Trump administration sanctions and chaos gripping the OPEC nation.

The United States imported exactly zero barrels of crude from Venezuela last week, according to government statistics. That's never happened since the US Energy Information Administration began tracking this weekly metric in 2010.

It marks a sharp decline from the prior week, when the United States imported 112,000 barrels per day from Venezuela. The plunge in oil shipments from Venezuela helped lift US oil prices above $60 a barrel this week for the first time since November.

But US Gulf Coast refineries have long relied on Venezuela's heavy grade of crude to churn out gasoline, jet fuel and diesel that keep the American economy humming. Just a year ago, Venezuela shipped more than half a million barrels of oil per day to US shores, making the Latin American country one of America's largest suppliers.

"I suspect it will stay at zero. It's a big problem for US refiners," said Ryan Fitzmaurice, energy strategist at Rabobank. "We really do need that heavy crude that comes from Venezuela. We're finding it difficult to source it from elsewhere."

The United States has never gone a full month without importing oil from Venezuela since the EIA started measuring this monthly data in 1973.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/21/business/venezuela-oil-imports-united-states/index.html