By Collin Eaton and Marianna Parraga
HOUSTON/MEXICO CITY, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Latin American crudeprices and flows to the United States have climbed this week asU.S. refiners tap lesser-used grades and suppliers to replaceVenezuelan oil lost due to U.S. sanctions, according to tradesources and Refinitiv Eikon data.
The sudden drop in Venezuela's shipments to the UnitedStates worsened a global drought of the heavy crude that U.S.Gulf Coast refineries prefer, spurring a hunt for similargrades.
Producers in Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil are benefiting asVenezuelan shipments fall and Canada and Mexico wrestle withproduction declines and pipeline constraints. U.S. sanctionsthat took effect last week bar U.S. companies from payingVenezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA for oil, creatingfurious demand for heavy and medium barrels.
The U.S. sanctions targeted Venezuela's oil exports to theUnited States because they are a critical source of cash forVenezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's regime and the source ofmost of its foreign revenue.
U.S. crude prices edged up 5 cents to $52.69 a barrel onFriday. Brent, the international standard, rose 52 cents to$62.15.
Colombia's medium sour Vasconia crude traded on Wednesday ata $1.80 discount to Brent, about $5 stronger than before U.S.sanctions were imposed, traders said. Colombia, the world'ssixth-largest heavy crude producer, exported the most Vasconiacrude to the United States in 11 months in January, at 142,000barrels per day (bpd).
The Seaways Portland, a vessel chartered by Valero EnergyCorp and carrying almost 500,000 bpd of Colombia's heavyCastilla Blend, was discharging its cargo in Texas City, Texas,on Friday. Castilla strengthened this week to a $4.50 discount.
Another seven tankers carrying more than 5.2 million barrelsColombian crude, including vessels chartered by trader TrafiguraAG and oil major BP PLC, are scheduled tooffload crude at U.S. ports this month.
Ecuador's medium sour Oriente crude this week fetched a$3.81 per barrel discount to Brent, compared with an averagediscount of $5.74 over the past three years, traders said.
The world's eighth-largest producer of heavy crude lastmonth shipped the most Oriente crude to the United States in ayear and a half, at 143,000 barrels per day (bpd), RefinitivEikon data show.
The Aquapuelche, carrying more than 500,000 barrels ofOriente, was preparing to discharge on Friday at Los Angeles.Two other tankers with 1.3 million barrels were due to arrive atWest Coast ports in coming days.
"The market is really feeling the pain on these sourbarrels," a U.S.-based merchant trader said.
Brazil's crude departures to the United States more thandoubled last month over December to 87,000 bpd, Eikon datashowed.
Prices for Mexico's Maya also firmed to a $4.40 discount toBrent this week, compared to an average $7.85 over the pastthree years, traders said. Seaborne shipments of Maya to theUnited States are projected to reach 187,600 bpd in February,after falling the month before.
"There's just not a lot" of additional heavy crude suppliesavailable, said Matthew Blair, an analyst at Tudor, Pickering,Holt & Co. "Pretty much everywhere, spreads are tight."
Venezuela sold around 500,000 bpd of heavy crude to U.S.Gulf Coast refiners in 2018, with almost all of it purchased byCitgo Petroleum Corp, Chevron Corp, ValeroEnergy Corp and PBF Energy Inc.
U.S. sanctions have stranded 10.97 million barrels ofVenezuelan crude on tankers in the Gulf of Mexico as shipperswork out how to offload or sell the crude. They include 5.7million barrels chartered by Chevron, 2.1 million barrels byCitgo and 500,000 barrels by Valero, Eikon data showed.
Chevron is working to ensure adequate supplies of fuels toits customers, a spokesman said. Valero and Citgo did notrespond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Collin Eaton in Houston, Marianna Parraga inMexico City and Devika Krishna Kumar in New York; editing byDiane Craft)
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