U.S. crude imports from Venezuela dropped to zero last week, for the first time on record, preliminary data from the Energy Information Administration showed on Wednesday. Imports from Venezuela, historically one of the biggest suppliers of crude to the United States, have slumped from about 587,000 barrels per day (bpd) in late January after Washington hit Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government, his political allies and the country’s state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., or PDVSA, with a series of sanctions. PDVSA also faced disruptions at its primary port, the lifeblood of the OPEC member’s economy, due to a massive power outage that began a week earlier. Venezuela may divert oil originally bound for the United […]