At least half a dozen sanctioned tankers have loaded oil from Venezuela since December 11, when the U.S. escalated the pressure on Venezuelan oil exports, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, quoting data from Kpler.
Loadings of oil from Venezuelan ports appear to have been happening in recent weeks at a more or less typical pace despite the U.S. crackdown on vessels involved in illicit oil trade, according to Kpler’s data.
Earlier this month, the Trump Administration intensified pressure on Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro by designating his regime as a “foreign terrorist organization”.
U.S. President Donald Trump has also ordered a naval blockade offshore Venezuela to intercept sanctioned vessels trying to travel to and from the South American country.
This weekend, the United States seized a second oil tanker offshore Venezuela.
Commenting on the seizure, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X that “The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region. We will find you, and we will stop you.”
In an interview with Fox & Friends on Monday, Secretary Noem said that
“We’re not just interdicting these ships, but we’re also sending a message around the world that the illegal activity that Maduro is participating in cannot stand, he needs to be gone, and that we will stand up for our people.”
Most of Venezuela’s crude is being shipped on shadow-fleet tankers to China. The U.S. blockade is paralyzing this lifeline for Nicolas Maduro’s regime in Caracas. At the same time, the Trump Administration allows Venezuelan crude to flow to the U.S. Gulf Coast via shipments chartered by U.S. supermajor Chevron, which has a special license to operate in Venezuela and export to the U.S. part of the crude it pumps through its joint ventures there.
President Trump’s military campaign against Venezuela is threatening an $8-billion market of shadow-fleet oil trade as the U.S. pressure on Venezuela is disrupting oil exports, with tankers diverting, crude piling up at sea, and Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA facing imminent well shut-ins due to shrinking storage capacity.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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