Venezuela offers India 30% discount on oil... If it pays in cryptocurrency

[Varun]

Venezuela has offered India a 30-percent discount on crude oil purchases, but only if India agrees to pay in El Petro, the cryptocurrency that Venezuela is touting as the first national digital currency backed by crude oil reserves, the Indian outlet Business Standard reports.

Venezuelan blockchain department experts visited India in March and struck an agreement with Delhi-based Bitcoin trading firm Coinsecure to sell the Venezuelan cryptocurrency Petro in India, Business Standard reported, quoting multiple sources.

Maduro’s propaganda machine is touting the digital coin as a ‘ground-breaking’ first-ever national crypto currency, El Petro—backed by 5 billion barrels of oil reserves in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt. But most observers see this crypto issuance as a desperate attempt to skirt U.S. financial sanctions.

In March 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump banned U.S. purchases, transactions, and dealings of any digital coin or token issued for or by the government of Venezuela.

Now Venezuela wants to add the Petro as a cryptocurrency on Coinsecure to trade Petro against Bitcoin and the Indian rupee, according to Coinsecure CEO Mohit Kalra quoted by Business Standard.

“They are going to different countries and making offers. The offer that they have given to the Indian government is: you buy Petro and we will give you a 30 per cent discount on oil purchases,” Kalra told Business Standard.

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Earlier this month, Coinsecure said that US$3.5 million worth of Bitcoins had been stolen from the exchange and blamed for this its Chief Security Officer (CSO) Amitabh Saxena. Investigation is still under way, Coinsecure said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, India’s crude imports from Venezuela—whose oil industry is collapsing rapidly—dropped to around 300,000 bpd between November 2017 and February 2018, down by 20 percent on the year, to the lowest level since 2012, Reuters reported in March, citing data from shipping and industry sources.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-...count-On-OilIf-It-Pays-in-Cryptocurrency.html

Not sure what to make of this. The government in Venezuela and Maduro are doing this because the launch of the Petro two months on has clearly been a failure - very very few people invested into the concept, and there is very little movement on the blockchain that the Venezuelan government says that Petro uses.

To delve into a fake currency just for imports from one country on the brink of utter collapse just seems reckless IMO.

 

[cricketjoshila]

India must increase its oil shipments from Venezuela and US

 

[Eagle_Eye]

India must increase its oil shipments from Venezuela and US

Why?

 

[cricketjoshila]

Why?

To reduce its dependence on Middle east and West Asia.

Recently India received its first shipment from USA.

Rosneft of Russia has brought a refinery and port in western India for $12bn to market russian oil in India.

Venezuela is another country which can supply India.

Diversifying your suppliers helps in better pricing and less supply disruptions.

 

[CricketCartoons]

To reduce its dependence on Middle east and West Asia.

Sorry for asking a basic question to help my knowledge. Which countries fall in west asia and which ones in middle east?

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

To reduce its dependence on Middle east and West Asia.

Recently India received its first shipment from USA.

Rosneft of Russia has brought a refinery and port in western India for $12bn to market russian oil in India.

Venezuela is another country which can supply India.

Diversifying your suppliers helps in better pricing and less supply disruptions.

Did India have issues with pricing or supply disruptions from current suppliers?

 

[cricketjoshila]

Did India have issues with pricing or supply disruptions from current suppliers?

India and China recently decided go form a platform to jointly negotiate oil prices for better pricing from suppliers. So pricing seems to be an issue.

Any chance of conflict in middle east or new sanctions raises chances of supply disruptions. So its better to diversify.

 

[gani999]

Sorry for asking a basic question to help my knowledge. Which countries fall in west asia and which ones in middle east?

They are the same thing. The Americans call the place West Asia and the British call it the Middle-East.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

India and China recently decided go form a platform to jointly negotiate oil prices for better pricing from suppliers. So pricing seems to be an issue.

Any chance of conflict in middle east or new sanctions raises chances of supply disruptions. So its better to diversify.

So basically just day to day business, India will look for the best price like every other country, suppliers will do the same. Both can diversify as suits, whether consumer or producer.