PDVSA, after carrying out an audit, decided to set aside the company Maroil Trading Inc., owned by Wilmer Ruperti, due to an alleged irregularity in a contract signed in 2016 where the oil magnate was allowed to get the majority of the profits from the sale of coke in exchange for an investment of 138 million dollars to a Pdvsa facility
Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), under the administration of Pedro Tellechea, canceled a contract with Maroil Trading Inc., a company belonging to the oil magnate and owner of Canal I, Wilmer Ruperti, after an internal audit was registered and alleged discrepancies were revealed in payments, according to the agency Bloomberg.
For his part, Ruperti asserted that there is no irregularity and that PDVSA still owes him close to 300 million dollars.
The discrepancy to which the news agency refers is in a five-year contract that was signed in 2016 in which Wilmer Ruperti’s company agreed to invest 138 million dollars in a PDVSA maritime terminal, in exchange for being able to sell and have most of the profits from the sale of 12 million metric tons of coke.
*Read also: US court authorizes the sale of gasoline that Wilmer Ruperti was going to bring into the country
Maroil Trading has taken over sales of almost all of Venezuela’s pet coke exports, a move that could reduce the risks of sanctions for clients, according to documents and four sources close to the decision, Reuters news agency reported. in september 2022.
The Geneva-based company has boosted exports and customers since it signed a trade pact with state oil company PDVSA six years ago. With US sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector, Maroil has helped support exports of the country’s byproduct, known as petroleum coke, which comes from the upgrading and refining of crude oil and is widely used by cement producers to make work the ovens.
The coke trade can be very profitable, according to documents seen by Reuters covering four months of exports.
*Read also: PDVSA adds unknown companies to list of coke buyers amid audit
TO end of March 2023 it became known that there was a debt of 423.7 million dollars for the supply of petroleum coke that motivated the review, by Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), of the accounts of Maroil Trading, owned by Wilmer Ruperti.
Five sources close to the audit told Reuters Geneva-registered raw materials firm Maroil Trading AG, responsible for most of the country’s pet coke exports, owes PDVSA $423.7 million, according to a summary from Commercial accounts receivable dating from January 2020 provided by the commercial division of the state oil company to its finance department.
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