North American Blue Energy, a company backed by U.S. energy magnate Harry Sargeant III, has moved to export nearly 1 million barrels of Venezuelan crude for delivery into China, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing a document.

The cargo may be the first delivery of Venezuelan oil to the Asian country since the US took control of the nation's oil sales earlier this year, the report said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has been taking steps to ease sanctions against Venezuela following the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro and urging U.S. companies to revive its oil industry.

Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Sargeant and his team were advising the Trump administration on how the U.S. can engineer a return of some American oil companies to Venezuela.

North American Blue Energy's oil is currently loading on to the tanker Skage, the report said, and is expected to take 950,000 barrels of Merey 16 oil, one of Venezuela's primary crude grades, for delivery to the port of Qingdao, in China.

Sargeant's businesses in Venezuela buy and export asphalt, which can be made from the kind of heavy crude oil produced in the South American country. He has also invested in the production of several of the country's oilfields.

Both the company and Sargeant could not be immediately reached by Reuters for comments.

(Reuters)