US refineries taking in half of Venezuela’s oil output, official says

US official says Venezuela is sending more than 500,000 of its 1.25 million barrels per day output to Gulf Coast refineries.Venezuela is exporting about half of its oil output to the United States, according to a senior US official, seven months after Washington abducted President Nicolas Maduro and installed an interim government in Caracas.Speaking at an industry event in Houston on Tuesday, Under Secretary of Energy Kyle Haustveit said more than 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) are now moving from Venezuela to the US out of national output of roughly 1.25 million bpd.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trump vows to find ‘leakers’ after reports of depleted Iran war munitionslist 2 of 3Venezuela says 131 political prisoners freed amid post-Maduro talkslist 3 of 3How much power does the US hold in Venezuela?end of listHe said the oil was moving to refineries “built specifically for that crude”.Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves – an estimated 303 billion barrels, or about 17 percent of the global total, according to the US Energy Information Administration.But decades of underinvestment and sanctions had left it producing roughly 1 percent of world supp...