Gunvor Colombia's PDVSA crude trade breaches Treasury sanctions

Developing story: GUNVOR COLOMBIA SAS, a subsidiary of Gunvor, has been caught participating in an elaborate trade scheme involving PDVSA crude. The crude produced in Venezuela was being exported as "residual oil" to Curaçao and Panama, and then delivered to Swiss Terminal's (subsidiary of Houston-based SGR Energy) storage in Barranquilla. On the import side there were Petroworld SAS, La Operadora SAS, Krystal Energy SAS. Mediating between importers and stored crude and Gunvor Colombia there was a company called Niman Commerce SAS, described in criminal probe documents as "main provider of crude to Gunvor Colombia SAS". Crude was transported by Transportes Humadea on Niman's behalf to different storage sites (Vasconia and Ayacucho) to eventually reach Terminal Coveñas. From there Gunvor exported the Venezuelan crude, under false description and origin, to the U.S. and other markets.

In its website, Gunvor claims to "...comply with all relevant rules and regulations wherever we operate." There is no evidence that Gunvor has obtained a Treasury license to trade smuggled PDVSA crude via Colombia.

Roger Arturo Gale, Hernando Silva Bickenbach, Jairo Hernan Devia Cubillos, Paola Margarita Martinez Sanchez, Hiklirs Rincones Jorio, Jose Gabriel and Javier Enrique Marquez Santos, Sergio Fortich Perez, Rafael Botello Gool, Jose Maria Marquez Jimenez, Oscar Luis Pastrana Martinez, Luis Fernando Martinez Vargas, Hernan Uzcategui Alvarez, Andres Garcia Delgado, Gustavo Montoya Puyana, Carmen Pinzon Mujica, and Margarita Delgado de Garcia and the companies they are associated with have been identified as part of the probe.

Intercepted telephone conversations between Gale (Gunvor) and Silva (Niman) indicate Gunvor Colombia's principal (Jaime Alejandro Hoyos Juliao) was consulted on the scheme and approved fake paperwork. A request for comment was sent to Mr Hoyos Juliao.

A case before Colombia's Supreme Court indicates the case had been known to authorities since, at least, mid April 2021. Consulted sources commented to this site that, considering the way Gunvor is run, it was impossible that Torbjörn Törnqvist was kept unaware of this scheme.