Traders have rebranded over $1 billion worth of Venezuelan oil shipments to China as Brazilian crude since July 2024 to cut costs and skirt US sanctions, according to shipping data, internal documents and trading sources. By relabelling Venezuela's Merey crude as Brazilian bitumen and spoofing ship locations to appear as departing from Brazil, tankers have avoided Malaysia's trans-shipment hubs, shortening voyages by four days. Chinese independent refiners, the main buyers, benefit from lower costs and bypassing import quotas for crude. China officially imported 2.7 million tons of bitumen blend from Brazil between July 2024 and March 2025, despite Brazilian customs reporting no such exports. PDVSA documents show intermediaries such as Hangzhou Energy loading Venezuelan crude under false origin, with the Liberia-flagged Karina among the vessels spoofing its signal before unloading in China. China's customs agency, PDVSA, and Brazilian authorities did not comment. Traders said the rebranding also helped secure bank financing for the months-long voyages. Venezuela shipped 463,000 barrels per day to China in the first four months of 2025, up from 351,000 bpd in 2024. Most imports remain labelled as Malaysian rather than Venezuelan. Attribution: Reuters Subediting: M. S. Salama
