venalum

The names sound like trading rooms in Geneva and London, but the deal lands directly in the pocket of whoever exchanges USDT for bolívares in Puerto Ordaz, Maracaibo, or Caracas. Bloomberg revealed that **Mercuria Energy Group and Glencore** are holding separate talks with the Executive Branch to get into the operation of **Venalum**, the country’s largest aluminum smelter, located in the industrial hub of Puerto Ordaz, Bolívar state.
Venalum, controlled by the State, once had installed capacity of about **430,000 metric tons per year of primary aluminum**. Today it produces only a fraction of that, battered by years without investment, power outages, grid failures, and an industrial decline that has already lasted more than a decade. The fact that two of the world’s biggest commodity traders sit down at the table is no small matter.

📊 A shipment that breaks years of commercial silence
Venezuela is preparing to move 15,000 tons of aluminum destined for the United States, in what would be the first shipment of that metal to U.S. territory in years. The material would have been produced by Venalum and would ship under an agreement with Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. and Heeney Capital, according to Bloomberg Line reports cited by national business press. Sources linked to the deal even suggest that the announcement could coincide with an energy summit between the two countries.