Washington increases pressure on Venezuela's oil sector
The US government has sanctioned six shipping companies operating in Venezuela’s oil sector.
IMAGE: Flags of the US and Venezuela. Getty Images
The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on six vessels that have engaged in deceptive and unsafe shipping practices, it said.
OFAC has targeted these vessels for their continued supply of “financial resources that fuel [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro’s corrupt narco-terrorist regime.”
The US treasury department has targeted the vessel White Crane and its Marshall Islands-based owner Myra Marine for transporting Venezuelan oil as recent as October.
The Panama-flagged vessel Kiara M has also been sanctioned. It is operated by Arctic Voyager and loaded oil in Venezuela in September and October, OFAC said. The vessel is presently headed for Asia to offload its cargo.
The US administration has sanctioned four additional shipping companies: two based in the Marshall Islands, one in the UK and one in the British Virgin Islands. Four more oil tankers have also been sanctioned for engaging in fraudulent oil trades.
OFAC said these vessels engage in obfuscation techniques to hide their activities, like ship-to-ship (STS) transfers after daylight hours, Automated Identification System (AIS) spoofing, and conspicuous gaps in AIS location reporting.
The sanctions come in the wake of US Coast Guard and Homeland Security’s latest seizure of a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.
The seizure is the first time the US has intercepted a Venezuelan oil cargo ship since sanctions were imposed in 2019.
Relations between the two oil-producing nations have deteriorated after Venezuela failed to uphold its commitment to conduct fair presidential elections last year, prompting continued pressure from US President Donald Trump for Nicolás Maduro to step down.
By Aparupa Mazumder
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