The United States is in “active pursuit” of a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela after President Trump ordered a complete blockade of “all sanctioned oil tankers” moving in and out of the country.
The third vessel, which was being tracked in international waters, was part of Venezuela’s dark fleet, used to help evade sanctions, according to Reuters.
Earlier reports suggested the US had seized the tanker on Sunday. However, an official later clarified with the news agency that American forces were “in active pursuit” of the ship, adding: “It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”
The vessel, named Bella 1, was thought to be en route to Venezuela to pick up oil and was not carrying cargo, but was subject to US sanctions due to its links with Iran.
Despite US forces obtaining a seizure warrant for the tanker, Bella 1 did not submit to being boarded and continued sailing, The New York Times reported. The tanker then began broadcasting distress signals to nearby ships, the newspaper said, before it began fleeing the Caribbean Sea.
The White House did not immediately comment on the reports.
On Saturday, the US seized a separate oil tanker. Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, said that the US coast guard had “apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela” in a pre-dawn raid.
“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,” she said.
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The second vessel, named Centuries, was not believed to be subject to US sanctions and was not mentioned on a sanctions list publicly maintained by the Treasury Department.
Cargo on the Panamanian-flagged tanker belonged to an established Chinese-based oil trader that is well known for transporting Venezuelan crude oil to Chinese refineries, The New York Times reported.
Oil prices climbed after a weekend of ongoing activity in the Caribbean, and Brent crude futures had risen 44 cents to $60.91 per barrel by the early hours of Monday morning.
International law states that a ship may be boarded if there is reasonable ground to suggest it is not legitimately registered to the state whose flag it is flying.
The Venezuelan government said the “theft and hijacking of a new private vessel transporting oil, as well as the forced disappearance of its crew” would “not go unpunished”.
Caracas pledged to report the incident to the United Nations Security Council.
The seizing of the vessels is part of a widely perceived attempt by the Trump administration to put a stranglehold on Venezuela’s economy and authoritarian regime, and ultimately remove President Maduro from power.
Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, has told Vanity Fair that Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle [admits defeat]”.
President Trump salutes the coffin of a US soldier killed in Syria last weekend
JULIA DEMAREE NIKHINSON/AP
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president, said on Saturday that an “armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe”.
This month US forces seized the Skipper, which was flying under a false flag and was under US sanctions for having carried Iranian oil.
The Skipper was the first oil tanker to be seized by US forces last week, with knock-on effects for the Venezuelan economy
REUTERS
The White House’s deputy press secretary Anna Kelly claimed that the Centuries was a similarly “falsely flagged vessel operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil” and that the oil it was carrying was sanctioned.
However, various maritime experts have contested this claim, including Dr Salvatore Mercogliano, who said it was operating legally. “Everything indicates that she is a properly registered vessel,” he said.
Up to a quarter of the Venezuelan economy depends on oil and is already facing mounting issues as the stand-off with the US drags on.
US fighters jets sit on the tarmac at José Aponte de la Torre airport in Puerto Rico,
MIGUEL J RODRIGUEZ CARRILLO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Venezuela began struggling with a drop in oil tanker movements to and from its shores after the Skipper was seized. Its storage capacity is days away from filling up, according to Bloomberg, meaning the country may soon have to begin closing some of its oil wells.
• Oil prices rise after Trump steps up blockade of Venezuela
Maduro has ordered that some vessels carrying Venezuelan oil be escorted by the navy. It is not clear if this was the case with Centuries.
On Thursday, Russia warned Trump not to make “a fatal mistake” on Venezuela. President Sheinbaum of Mexico called on the UN “to prevent any bloodshed and seek peaceful solutions to conflicts”.
Previously Trump has focused primarily on drug trafficking to defend his military and financial pressure. Announcing the blockade, he justified it by saying Maduro had taken US assets, demanding that Caracas “return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us”.
“I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela,” he added.
Trump has already ordered the largest naval deployment in the Caribbean for 30 years. His administration also oversees strikes on smaller boats carrying alleged “narcoterrorists”, a campaign which has so far targeted at least 28 boats and killed 104 people.