WILLEMSTAD - Suppliers and customers of the Isla Refinery are already starting to withdraw in connection with the sanctions of the United States. This was stated by the spokesman of the refinery Earl Balborda.

On January 28, the US officially put sanctions on Venezuela. One of the sanctions is that companies that do business with the US no longer do business with PDVSA, but also with subsidiaries of the Venezuelan state oil company, such as the refinery in Curaçao.

According to Balborda, there are now more than 1 million products in tanks that cannot be sold anymore. Curoil has always been the biggest buyer, but they also take less. They propose to get oil at a better price internationally. They also started looking for other options because of the production problems at the Isla since the beginning of 2017.