Dec 15 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s PDVSA was subject to a cyber attack it blamed on the United States, the state-run oil company said on Monday, with four sources saying its operations were unaffected despite systems being down that suspended oil cargo deliveries.
Tensions are high between the US and Venezuelan governments, with a massive US military build-up in the southern Caribbean, US President Donald Trump’s comments on US attacks on drug-trafficking boats and comments that land operations in Venezuela could begin soon.
Venezuela’s government says the US is seeking regime change to take control of the country’s vast oil reserves. Last week the US Coast Guard seized a very large crude carrier (VLCC) carrying about 1.85 million barrels of Venezuelan heavy oil sold by PDVSA.
PDVSA and the oil ministry said in a statement on Monday that the cyber attack was carried out by “foreign interests in collaboration with domestic entities seeking to destroy the country’s right to sovereign energy development”.
They accused the attack of being part of a US effort to control Venezuelan oil through “force and piracy”.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PDVSA did not provide further details, although the company said it had recovered from the attack. Venezuela’s government regularly blames problems like blackouts on conspirators from the opposition and foreign organizations like the US Central Intelligence Agency, without providing evidence.
Sources said the impact is continuing.
“There is no delivery (of cargo), all systems are down,” a company source said.
Oil production, refining and domestic distribution were not affected, sources said, but the company failed to restart administrative systems on Monday, forcing workers to keep written records of operations.
Two other sources said PDVSA ordered administrative and operational staff to disconnect from the company’s systems and limited indirect workers’ access to PDVSA’s facilities.
Tankers roll by
Last week’s VLCC seizure was the first interception of tankers or cargo coming from Venezuela, which has been under US sanctions since 2019, and is a sign of increasing pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.
The seizure has caused an already sharp drop in Venezuela’s oil exports and has also hit crisis-hit Cuba, which is facing daily power cuts.
More than 11 million barrels of oil have been stranded on other vessels in Venezuelan waters since last week. Among the few vessels setting sail are those chartered by US oil firm Chevron, a major partner of PDVSA, which continues to depart under authorization previously granted by Washington, according to shipping data.
A tanker carrying Russian naphtha for PDVSA and at least four supertankers to pick up crude cargoes in Venezuela made U-turns, vessel monitoring data showed Monday.
The Benin-flagged tanker Boltaris, carrying about 300,000 barrels of Russian naphtha bound for Venezuela, made a U-turn late last week and is now heading to Europe without discharging, according to LSEG ship monitoring data.
At least four VLCCs scheduled for PDVSA to load crude oil at Venezuelan ports in the coming weeks have made changes in recent days, monitoring service TankerTrackers.com said.
Venezuela’s crude production averaged 1.17 million barrels per day last month, according to official data, while oil exports rose to 952,000 bpd, according to shipping data.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Julia Sims-Cobb, Nathan Crooks and Nia Williams)
