Oil loadings on tankers at Venezuelan ports have declined following the latest U.S. threat of tanker seizures, with most vessels traveling only between local ports, Reuters has reported.
The Trump administration has stepped up pressure on Venezuela by going after its sanctioned tankers, seizing two and pursuing one more over the past few days. One of these was empty and on the sanctioned vessels blacklist—the one that the U.S. forces seized this weekend—but the other was a non-sanctioned tanker loaded with crude that was en route to China, according to Reuters.
According to the BBC, the third vessel currently being pursued by the U.S. Coast Guard in international waters is the Bella 1, a very large crude carrier that was en route to Venezuela to load crude. According to U.S. officials, the vessel was not flying a valid national flag. The Bella 1 was sanctioned because of alleged ties between its owner and the Iranian government.
President Trump said on Monday that “We’re going to keep it,” referring to the oil. “Maybe we’ll sell it, maybe we’ll keep it, maybe we’ll use it in the strategic reserve,” the president also said, as quoted by CNBC. “We’re keeping the ships also.”
Separately, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggested the tanker seizures are a way to force Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, out. “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,” Noem said in an interview on Fox News, as quoted by the New York Times. “He needs to be gone.”
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 government 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.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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