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Latest

PDVSA's crude trading halted by arrest of Alex Saab

PDVSA has ceased its trading operations almost completely, owing mainly to "bankruptcy" of Libre Abordo and arrest in Cape Verde of Alex Saab, PDVSA's de facto largest trader. Latest data from June shows ENI (Delta Captain, Delta Tolmi) and Repsol (Delta Med, Delta Angelica) are due to lift Merey cargoes. 3.6 MB altogether. That's it. There's no one else.

Arrested in Cape Verde on INTERPOL notice, Alex Saab will slip back to Caracas

There's been frantic commentary over the weekend due to arrest last Friday of Alex Saab (Nicolas Maduro's favourite operator) in Cape Verde. Colombia moved last week against Saab, seizing and freezing some of his assets and placing him on INTERPOL's blue notice list. But this is Cape Verde, and Alex Saab, so alleged expedite extradition to face U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) charges was never going to be a straighforward affair. As of this writing, Saab is still in Cape Verde, not going anywhere in a hurry.

[UPDATED]: Gonzalo Morales Divo threatens Alek Boyd Alek Boyd Fri, 06/05/2020 - 17:59

A tweet related to news about Raul Gorrin giving $500,000 to Lilian Tintori has apparently riled Gonzalo Morales Divo, a Venezuelan "restaurateur" and Miami resident with past associations to Ronald Morett and drug trafficking.

PDVSA SAP confirms: Alex Saab behind Proton Sociedad Limitada

Internal documents from PDVSA's SAP system seen by this site corroborate that Proton Sociedad Limitada and Schlager Business Group, the subsidiary of Libre Abordo, are used interchangeably by Alex Saab in crude lifting operations in Venezuela. The system also shows Libre Abordo and other shells controlled by Saab are under prepayment terms. It is not the first time PDVSA imposes such terms on its trading operations.

UPDATED - BREAKING: Proton Sociedad Limitada another Libre Abordo front

Further to yesterday's report regarding Libre Abordo, its "bankruptcy" and Venezuela's announcement to take its case to the Intternational Criminal Court (ICC), this site can confirm that far from being out of business, Libre Abordo and Alex Saab continue to do deals with PDVSA and the Maduro regime through Proton Sociedad Limitada.