Economics

One Trader Is Behind 32 Million Barrels of Venezuelan Oil Deals

  • Libre Abordo became major purchaser of Venezuelan crude: data
  • Mexican firm says it exchanged humanitarian aid for oil
Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg
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Venezuela has grown increasingly dependent on one little-known trading firm in Mexico to help sell its crude abroad as the country faces U.S. sanctions starving it of oil profits in a campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

Late last year, traders with decades of experience in the tight-knit Latin American oil market had never heard of Libre Abordo SA de CV, a trading company based in Mexico City. Today, it is one of the few -- and one of the largest -- buyers of Venezuelan oil.