US seizes vessel off Venezuelan coast, officials say

The United States is interdicting and seizing a vessel off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, three US officials told Reuters on Dec 20, a move which comes just days after US President Donald Trump announced a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

This would mark the second time in recent weeks that the United States has seized a tanker ​near Venezuela ​and comes amid a large US military build-up in the region.

The officials, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say where the operation was taking place but added the Coast Guard was in the lead.

The Coast Guard and Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Venezuela’s oil ministry and state oil company PDVSA did not immediately reply to requests for ​comment.

"I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela," Mr Trump said on Dec 16.

In the days since US forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela
last week, there has been an effective embargo in place, with loaded vessels carrying millions of barrels of oil staying in Venezuelan waters rather than risk seizure.

Since the first seizure, Venezuelan crude ​exports have fallen sharply.

While many vessels picking up oil in Venezuela are under sanctions, others transporting the country’s oil and crude from Iran and Russia have not been sanctioned, and ‌some companies, particularly the US’ Chevron, transport Venezuelan oil in their own ​authorised ships.

China is the biggest buyer of Venezuelan crude, which accounts for roughly 4 per cent of its imports, with shipments in December on track to average more than 600,000 barrels per day, analysts have said.

For now, the oil market is well supplied and there are millions of barrels of oil on tankers off the coast of China waiting to offload. If the embargo stays in place for some time, then the loss of nearly a million barrels a day of crude supply is likely to push oil prices higher.

Since the US imposed energy sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, traders and refiners buying Venezuelan oil have ‍resorted to a “shadow fleet” of tankers that disguise their location and to vessels sanctioned for transporting Iranian or Russian oil.

The dark or shadow fleet is considered exposed to possible punitive measures from the US, shipping analysts have said.

As of this week, of more than 70 oil tankers in ‍Venezuelan waters that are part of the shadow fleet, around 38 are under sanctions by the US Treasury, according to data from TankerTrackers.com.

Of those, at least ​15 are loaded with crude and fuel, it added.

Mr Trump’s pressure campaign on Maduro has included a ramped-up military presence in the region and more than two dozen military strikes on vessels in the ​Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near Venezuela, which have killed at least 100 people.

Mr Trump has also said that US ‌land strikes on the South American country will soon start. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has alleged that the US military build-up is aimed at overthrowing him and gaining control of the OPEC nation’s oil resources, which are the world’s largest crude reserves. REUTERS