Venezuela's PDVSA resumes work at Jose oil port's dock: sources

(Reuters) - Venezuela's state-run PDVSA has reopened a dock at the country's main oil terminal of Jose that had been closed for almost three months due to a tanker collision, a PDVSA source and a shipper said on Tuesday.

Dozens of tankers waiting to load Venezuelan oil were diverted to other PDVSA's terminals since Jose port's South dock was shut in late August, causing delays in deliveries to customers and cutting export revenue.

Venezuela's crude exports fell to 1.06 million barrels per day last month from 1.39 million bpd in July, according to Refinitiv Eikon data, due to the infrastructure problems and an ongoing crude output decline.

PDVSA faced difficulties in importing replacement parts for the fences damaged by the tanker collision due to U.S. sanctions banning the company from doing banking transactions in dollars, according to PDVSA sources. The parts were ultimately purchased through India.

The first vessel served at the South dock after its reopening was the Panamax tanker SCF Progress, which arrived in Jose on Nov. 16, carrying imported heavy naphtha for PDVSA from the U.S. Gulf Coast. It finished discharging on Tuesday, according to Eikon's vessel tracking data.

Jose's South dock is mainly used to export upgraded oil produced at the vast Orinoco Belt, and to discharge the imported naphtha PDVSA needs to dilute its extra heavy oil output.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Bill Berkrot)