WILLEMSTAD - It was a sight that the people of Curaçao have not seen in a while. A tanker carrying Venezuelan heavy crude unloaded in Bullen Bay over the weekend.

The 155,000t Liberia-flagged Diamondway docked on 12 October after departing from the western Venezuelan terminal of Amuay, according to ship-tracking data. The bill of lading indicates that the cargo is Hamaca crude with a quality of 18°API and 0.175pc water.

The Curaçao Port Authority harbor roster indicates that the vessel is scheduled to depart Bullen Bay on 18 October.

Venezuela's national oil company PdVSA operates Bullen Bay and the stalled Isla refinery in Curaçao under a long-term lease that expires in December. But the company has largely abandoned the facilities this year.

A source close to the oil refinery indicated that the Hamaca crude was much needed in Curaçao.

Escalating US oil sanctions on Venezuela and the threat that PdVSA cargoes and tankers could be seized by the company's creditors — as happened repeatedly in recent years — have suppressed Venezuelan oil operations in Curaçao and other Dutch Caribbean islands.

Curaçao's government is currently negotiating a new operating lease with refining and trading company Klesch.

The tanker now docked at the deep-water Bullen Bay terminal is owned by Eastern Pacific Shipping, headquartered in Singapore.

The cargo has raised speculation in Curaçao about a possible restart of the 335,000 b/d refinery, which has been mostly inoperative for about two years because of a lack of feedstock, maintenance and utility services, creating hardship for the island's economy.

But the shipment is more likely to be part of PdVSA's effort to clear out sanctions-related export bottlenecks at its Venezuelan terminals, said a source close to the refinery.