<article><p class="lead">Italy's 235,000 b/d Milazzo refinery is due to receive its third cargo of Venezuelan crude in as many months.</p><p>The <i>Delta Tolmi</i> — which in July delivered the refinery's first Venezuelan cargo in over a year — is once again on route for Milazzo from Venezuela, carrying around 1mn bl. </p><p>Italy's Eni, which jointly runs Milazzo with Kuwait's KPC, engages in Venezuelan crude-for-diesel swaps and debt recovery arrangements through an informal exception to US sanctions, which the White House is <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2136809">seeking to end</a>.</p><p>The company is a 50pc partner with Spain's Repsol at Venezuela's offshore Perla gas field, where state-owned PdV pays for production with crude supply. Among Eni's other Venezuelan assets is a 26pc stake in PetroSucre, which operates the Corocoro offshore field, where a floating storage unit is <a href="https://direct.argusmedia.com/newsandanalysis/article/2137186">currently listing</a>.</p><p>Milazzo's overall crude receipts were 110,000 b/d last month, the same as in July but up from 90,000 b/d in June, according to <i>Argus</i> tracking. August's imports comprised just over 10,000 b/d of Venezuelan crude, over 35,000 b/d of Azeri BTC Blend, 25,000 b/d of Baltic Urals, 20,000 b/d of Kazakh CPC Blend and 15,000 b/d of Nigerian Bonga. The Venezuelan crude was delivered by the <i>Delta Captain</i> at the start of the month. It split a 750,000 bl cargo between Milazzo, Genoa and Livorno. </p><p><i>Argus</i> assessed Milazzo's crude receipts at a weighted average gravity of 33.8°API and sulphur content of 0.8pc in August, compared with 31.5°API and 1.2pc in July.</p><p>There are tentative signs of a rise in crude receipts at Milazzo in September. Besides the <i>Delta Tolmi</i>, a cargo of around 570,000 bl of Libyan Bouri crude is ready to discharge and a further 1mn bl of Nigerian Forcados is also close to the port. Along with shipments of US WTI and Baltic Urals, 4.2mn bl is signalling arrival in total. This alone would be the highest level of receipts since May.</p><p class="bylines">By Adam Porter</p><p><div class="picture"><div><span class="pic_title">Millazzo crude receipts</span> <span class="units">mn bl</span></div><img src="https://argus-public-assets-us.s3.amazonaws.com/2020/09/01/milazzo201092020021127.jpg"></div></p></article>
