March 3 (Reuters) - Venezuela's oil exports fell 6.5% in

February from a month earlier to some 737,000 barrels per day as

more shipments to the United States and Europe could not fully

offset the loss of what used to be the OPEC country's main

market, China, according to vessel monitoring data and documents

from state company PDVSA.

Washington has controlled the South American nation's oil

exports since early January, when U.S. forces captured President

Nicolas Maduro. Trading houses Trafigura and Vitol and U.S.

producer Chevron ( CVX ) are now exporting the lion's share of

Venezuela's barrels.

Even as Chevron ( CVX ) and the traders sent more cargoes to the

U.S., Europe and the Caribbean last month, the increase was not

enough to compensate for a 67% decline in exports to Asia, which

averaged some 48,000 bpd, compared with 145,000 bpd in January

and more than 600,000 bpd last year.

A lack of very large crude carriers to transport bigger

cargoes also limited exports from Venezuela, whose main oil

port, the Jose terminal, handles about 70% of total shipments,

creating a need for larger vessels to cut down loading times.

Overall, oil exports in February were 6.5% lower than in

January and stood 19% below the same month of 2025. The trading

houses exported a total of 26.9 million barrels since they began

marketing and shipping the country's crude and fuel last month,

according to the data, of some 40 million barrels sold so far

under U.S. oversight.

Venezuela's direct exports to the U.S. rose 32% to about

375,000 bpd, shipments to Europe increased ninefold to 158,000

bpd and Chevron ( CVX ) sold its first cargo of Venezuelan heavy crude

to India's refiner Reliance Industries in three years.

With at least half a dozen supertankers navigating to

Venezuela to pick up cargoes, exports are expected to accelerate

in March, particularly to India, the data showed.