The US Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, officials said Reuters Sunday, in what would be the second such operation this weekend and the third in less than two weeks if successful.
“The U.S. Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned dark navy vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,” a U.S. official said. “It is flying a false flag and is under judicial seizure.”
Another official said the tanker was under sanctions, but added that it had not boarded so far and that interceptions can take various forms – including sailing or flying close to vessels of concern.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not give a specific location for the operation or name the vessel being pursued.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
US President Donald Trump last week announced a “blockade” of all oil tankers under sanctions entering and leaving Venezuela.
Trump’s pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has included an increased military presence in the region and more than two dozen military attacks on ships in the Pacific and Caribbean near the South American nation. At least 100 people have been killed in the attacks.
The first two seized oil tankers operated on the black market, delivering oil to countries under sanctions, Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said in a television interview Sunday.
“And so I don’t think people need to be concerned here in the United States that prices are going to go up because of these seizures of these ships,” Hassett said on CBS‘s “Face the Nation” program. “There are only a few of them and they were black market ships.”
But an oil trader told it Reuters that the seizures may push oil prices up slightly when trading in Asia resumes on Monday.
“We may see prices rise modestly at the open given that market participants could see this as an escalation with more Venezuelan barrels at risk since the tanker was not on a US sanctions list,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.
Another analyst said the seizures raise geopolitical risks and are likely to increase friction in the shadow fleet of ships moving oil from sanctioned countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran.
The seizures could legitimize and encourage Ukraine to continue attacking Russian ships and possibly encourage Europe to detain Moscow-linked dark navy vessels as well, said Matias Togni, oil shipping analyst at NextBarrel.
Venezuelan and Iranian oil production is already showing signs of slowing, Togni said, adding that he expects the same to happen with Russia. Oil from countries under sanctions is likely to be offered at greater discounts as logistics become more expensive, which could help limit the rise in benchmark oil prices, he said.
