Venezuela's oil exports up in July, fueled by ship-to-ship transfers off Malaysia, Venezuela

Amid the sanctions, the oil trade between Venezuela and China has become increasingly opaque, with many tankers that carry PDVSA's oil transferring their cargoes to other vessels off the coasts of Venezuela and Malaysia before reaching their final destination.

Venezuela's oil exports increased for the second consecutive month to 713,097 barrels per day (bpd) in July, as state-run PDVSA offset loading delays at its main port by boosting ship-to-ship transfers, according to tracking data and documents.

That was Venezuela's highest level of oil exports since February, according to the data.