US pursuing third oil tanker near Venezuela: Officials

WASHINGTON - The US Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near ‍Venezuela, ​officials told Reuters on Dec 21, in what would be the

second such operation

this weekend and the third ‍in less than two weeks if successful.

“The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,” a US official ​said. “It is flying ​a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”

Another official said the tanker was under sanctions, but added that it had not been boarded so far and that interceptions can take different forms – including by sailing or flying close to vessels of concern.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did ‍not give a specific location for the operation or name the vessel being pursued.

British maritime risk management group Vanguard, along with a US maritime security source, identified ​the vessel as Bella 1, a crude oil carrier that is on ⁠the Treasury Department’s sanctions list.

Bella 1 was empty when it was approaching Venezuela on Dec 21, according to TankerTrackers.com.

The vessel had in 2021 provided transportation for Venezuela’s oil to China, according to internal documents from state company PDVSA.

It had also previously carried Iranian crude, according to the vessel monitoring service.

Trump’s pressure campaign

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Dec 21.

US ​President Donald Trump last week

announced a “blockade” of all oil tankers

under sanctions entering and leaving Venezuela.

Mr Trump’s pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolas 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 the South American nation.

At least 100 people have been killed in the attacks.

The Skipper, a very large crude carrier and the first Venezuela-related ​vessel seized by the US on Dec 10, reached the Galveston Offshore Lightering Area (GOLA) near Houston on Dec 21.

Very large crude carriers cannot transit the Houston ship channel, as the waterway is not deep enough, and typically transfer the oil on board to smaller tankers at GOLA. 

The first two oil tankers seized were operating on the black market and providing oil to countries under sanctions, said Mr Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, in a television interview on Dec 21.

“And so I don’t think that people need to be worried here in the US that the prices are going to go up because of these seizures of these ships,” Mr Hassett said on CBS’ Face The Nation programme.

“There’s just a couple of them, and they were black market ships.”

Oil prices rose on Dec 22 in early Asian trading hours.

Brent crude futures rose 42 cents, or 0.7 per cent, to US$60.89 a barrel as at 12.20am GMT (8.20am Singapore time). US West Texas Intermediate crude was up 37 cents, or 0.7 per cent, at US$56.89 per barrel.

Traders could view seizures of vessels as “an escalation with more Venezuelan barrels at risk” because the tanker intercepted on Dec 20 was not under US sanctions, UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said on Dec 21 before Asian markets opened.

President Maduro said on Dec 17 that the country’s oil trade will continue.

But the new US focus ​on oil tankers will raise geopolitical risks and probably hurt Venezuela’s oil revenue, analysts said.

The effects could be felt quickly as Venezuela’s ‌export volumes fall significantly and oil storage tanks fill up faster, forcing the OPEC producer to cut output, said Mr Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin America Energy Program at Rice University’s Baker Institute. REUTERS