US pursues third oil tanker as Trump’s Venezuela ‘blockade’ intensifies
US Coast Guard shadows a sanctioned ‘dark fleet’ supertanker as Washington moves to choke off Venezuela’s oil revenue
The US Coast Guard is pursuing an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela, officials told Reuters on Sunday, in what would be the second such operation this weekend and the third in less than two weeks if successful.
“The United States Coast Guard is in active pursuit of a sanctioned ‘dark fleet’ vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion,” a US official said. “It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”
Another official said the tanker was under sanctions, but added that it had not been boarded so far and that interceptions can take different forms - including by sailing or flying close to vessels of concern.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not give a specific location for the operation or name the vessel being pursued.
British maritime risk management group Vanguard, along with a US maritime security source, identified the vessel as Bella 1, a very large crude oil carrier that was added last year to the sanctions list of the US Treasury Department, which said the vessel has links to Iran.
Bella 1 was empty when it was approaching Venezuela on Sunday, according to TankerTrackers.com. The vessel had in 2021 provided transportation for Venezuela’s oil to China, according to internal documents from state-run oil company PDVSA. It had also previously carried Iranian crude, according to the vessel monitoring service.