In an oil market already tighter on heavy crude grades due to OPEC’s production cuts and U.S. sanctions on Iran’s oil, refiners now face an even tighter supply of heavy crude with the sweeping U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector. Refiners around the world are looking for alternatives to Venezuela’s heavy and extra heavy crudes, but Venezuelan grades have few suitable substitutes, Reuters market analyst John Kemp writes . In addition, heavier, higher-sulfur grades are more difficult to process and refiners must first see if their refineries will be suited to process substitutes of Venezuelan grades. The closest replacement to Venezuela’s Merey grade, for example, would be Brazil’s Marlim, Mexico’s Maya, Canada’s grades Bow River and Cold Lake, or Iraq’s Basra Heavy, according to Kemp. The sanctions on Venezuela—combined with the U.S. sanctions on Iran and with OPEC’s cuts—have been removing medium to heavy crudes from the market. This […]