HOUSTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Venezuela's state oil

company PDVSA and India's Reliance Industries have

resumed an oil swap that had been paused due to U.S. sanctions

on the South American country, an internal PDVSA document seen

on Thursday showed.

Reliance and other Indian refiners had imported Venezuelan

oil earlier this year under a broad U.S. license that expired in

April. In July, Washington granted Reliance an individual

authorization green-lighting the trade.

Before sanctions, India was Venezuela's second largest

market for its crude. Due to the U.S. measures and separate

licenses issued to some of PDVSA's joint venture partners, China

has this year remained the main destination for Venezuela's oil,

followed by the United States and Europe, according to ship

tracking data.

A supertanker carrying about 1.9 million barrels of

Venezuelan Merey heavy crude departed earlier this month for

India's Sikka port, while a unit of Reliance delivered a

500,000-barrel cargo of heavy naphtha to PDVSA this month in

exchange, according to the document.

PDVSA and Reliance did not immediately reply to requests for

comment.

Reliance, which operates the world's biggest refining

complex, plans to pay in cash for the balance of the crude

purchases after the swaps, a source told Reuters in August, in

an arrangement similar to past exchanges.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump told reporters this

week his country does not need oil from Venezuela, which

currently exports about 240,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the

United States, mostly shipped by oil producer Chevron ( CVX ).

Chevron ( CVX ) did not provide comment on Trump's remarks.

Possible changes in the U.S. sanctions regime on

Venezuela, which since 2019 works through a combination of

executive orders and licenses, could lead to a new interruption

of the OPEC country's heavy oil flows to the U.S., while also

halting Venezuela's imports of refined products from the United

States.

If that happens, the Venezuelan barrels currently

exported to the U.S. are expected to be redirected to Asian

destinations, analysts and experts have said.

Venezuela's government has said the U.S. sanctions are

illegitimate measures that amount to an "economic war" designed

to cripple Venezuela. President Nicolas Maduro and his allies

have cheered what they say is the country's resilience despite

the measures.