U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s state-owned oil company are tightening the global oil market and sending refiners around the world scrambling to find replacements for the country’s diesel-rich heavy and extra heavy crudes. Venezuela’s heavy crudes, such as Merey, have few close substitutes, with the nearest being grades such as Brazil’s Marlim, Mexico’s Maya, Canada’s Bow River and Cold Lake, or Iraq’s Basra Heavy. Most of those crudes have an even higher sulphur content than Venezuela’s, which will require extra processing to make fuels of acceptable quality, and in any event the quantities are limited in the short ... (full story)