Houston — Venezuela is nearly a month behind delivering crude to customers from its main oil export terminals, according to shipping data, as chronic delays and production declines could breach state-run PDVSA’s supply contracts if they are not cleared soon. The oil company in recent days has raised the prospect that deliveries could be interrupted to some of the world’s largest refiners if it fails to end a tanker bottleneck contributing to a sharp decline in oil exports, the lifeblood of the Opec-member nation. Tankers waiting to load more than 24-million barrels of crude, almost as much as PDVSA shipped in April, are sitting off the country’s main oil port, according to the data. The backlog is so severe, the company has told some customers it may declare force majeure, allowing it to temporarily halt contracts, if they do not accept new delivery terms. The delays helped on Thursday push up Brent crude oil prices by 0.8% to almost $76 a barrel by 6.40am GMT. As of June 7, more th...
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