May 1 (Reuters) - Venezuela's oil exports fell almost

20% to some 700,000 barrels per day (bpd) in April, the lowest

level in nine months, as cargo cancellations to U.S.-based

producer Chevron ( CVX ) forced ships to return and left some

ports empty, ship tracking data and documents showed.

Venezuela's state-run company PDVSA last month suspended

most of the loading windows it had assigned to Chevron ( CVX ) and

ordered the return of some oil cargoes bound for the U.S. amid

payment uncertainty related to the enforcement of U.S.

sanctions.

The measures cut Chevron ( CVX ) short of a May 27 deadline the U.S.

Treasury Department had set to wind down oil operations and

exports from the OPEC country, which has been under U.S. energy

sanctions since 2019.

A total of 32 vessels departed from Venezuelan waters last

month, carrying an average of 698,767 bpd of crude and fuel and

357,000 metric tons of oil byproducts and petrochemicals,

according to LSEG vessel monitoring data.

The main destination of Venezuela's oil exports was China

with some 428,000 bpd, followed by the U.S. with 138,000 bpd and

India with 64,200 bpd, the data and documents showed.

Chevron's ( CVX ) exports of Venezuelan crude to the U.S. plummeted

69% to some 66,000 bpd due to PDVSA's measures.

However, other customers of the state company, including

France's Maurel & Prom, U.S. Global Oil Terminals and

India's Reliance increased their intake of Venezuelan

crude and byproducts ahead of the May 27 deadline.

As part of oil swaps with some of those companies,

Venezuela's imports of heavy naphtha rose to some 94,000 bpd in

April, from 82,000 bpd in March, allowing PDVSA to increase

storage of much-needed diluents for its extra heavy crudes.

PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. Venezuela's

Oil Minister Delcy Rodriguez this month traveled to China to

discuss oil businesses.

The company between late March and early April halted one of

its main crude upgraders, Petropiar, operated along with

Chevron ( CVX ), to modify the facility's output, one of its strategies

to refine more domestically, according to one of the documents.

Also in April PDVSA inaugurated loading of a new crude grade

for export, Blend 22, with the first cargo bound for the U.S.

Venezuela's government has rejected President Donald Trump's

hardening of sanctions on the South American country, saying the

measures amount to an "economic war."