Background on the Situation
The United States Coast Guard is currently pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, according to US officials speaking to Reuters on Sunday. This operation would be the second of its kind over the weekend and the third in less than two weeks if successful.
US Sanctions and Venezuelan Oil Evasion
An anonymous US official stated, “The U.S. Coast Guard is actively pursuing a sanctioned dark fleet tanker involved in Venezuela’s illegal evasion of sanctions. It is flying a false flag under a court order for seizure.”
Another official mentioned that the tanker was subject to sanctions but noted it had not yet been boarded. Interceptions can take various forms, including navigating or flying close to suspect vessels.
Identifying the Target
The anonymous US officials did not disclose the operation’s specific location or name the pursued tanker. However, the UK-based maritime risk management firm Vanguard and a US security source identified the vessel as the Bella 1, which is on the US Treasury Department’s sanctions list.
According to TankerTrackers.com, the Bella 1 was empty as it approached Venezuela on Sunday. Internal documents from the state-owned company PDVSA indicate that in 2021, the tanker had transported Venezuelan oil to China. It had also previously carried Iranian crude, as per the vessel tracking service.
Trump’s Pressure Campaign
President Donald Trump announced last week that he was imposing a “blockade” on all sanctioned tankers entering and exiting Venezuela.
Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has included increased military presence in the region and over two dozen attacks on ships in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea near the South American nation. At least 100 people have died in these attacks.
The first two tankers seized were operating in the black market and supplying oil to countries under sanctions, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council at the White House, said in a television interview on Sunday.
“I don’t think people should be worried here in the U.S. about prices going up due to the seizure of these ships,” Hassett said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “There are only a couple of them, and they were black market ships.”
However, a petroleum trader told Reuters that the seizures might cause a slight increase in oil prices when Asian markets reopen on Monday.
“We might see modest price increases at the opening, considering market participants may view this as more Venezuelan barrels at risk,” UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said, noting that the intercepted tanker on Saturday was not subject to US sanctions.
Another analyst stated that the seizures heighten geopolitical risks and are likely to escalate tensions among shadow fleet vessels transporting oil from sanctioned countries like Venezuela, Russia, and Iran.
These seizures could legitimize and encourage Ukraine to continue attacking Russian vessels and possibly prompt Europe to detain shadow fleet ships linked to Moscow, according to Matías Togni, a petroleum shipping analyst at NextBarrel.
