The United States pursues a third Venezuelan oil tanker in a new episode of crisis between the two countries

“The US Coast Guard is actively pursuing a sanctioned vessel (…) which is participating in the illegal violation of the blockades of Venezuela. It is sailing under a false flag and is the subject of a judicial seizure order,” said an American source, on condition of anonymity.

This third ship was identified by the North American press as the Bella 1, under American sanctions since 2024 for its alleged links with Iran and the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. According to the specialized site Tanker trackersit was on its way to Venezuela and was not carrying any goods.

According to the The New York TimesAmerican forces approached it late Saturday afternoon (20), and attempted to intercept it after obtaining a warrant from a federal judge, but the ship continued on its way.

“Naval piracy”

Since last Tuesday (16), Washington has strengthened its blockade on Venezuelan oil, targeting ships supposedly under sanctions. One of the reasons would be to control the production of this product in the South American country.

In December, two ships were seized by the United States. The last one, the Centuries, was intercepted on Saturday by the American Coast Guard during an operation described by Caracas as “kidnapping”. But in the public list of legal entities and individuals subject to the US Treasury blockade, this ship flying the Panamanian flag does not appear.

“The ship contains oil from PDSVA (the Venezuelan state company) under sanctions,” explained White House spokesperson Anna Kelly on the social network.

The government of socialist Nicolas Maduro describes these episodes as “theft” and denounces what would be an act of “naval piracy”, since the intercepted tanker does not appear on the list of entities sanctioned by the US Treasury.

Dispute between Trump and Maduro

These interventions come at a time when US President Donald Trump claims that Venezuela uses oil, its main resource, to finance “narcoterrorism, human trafficking, murders and kidnappings”.

Caracas denies any involvement in drug trafficking and guarantees that Washington seeks to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro to appropriate the country’s oil reserves.

With more than 300 billion barrels on its soil, Venezuela is certainly first in the world in terms of reserves, but it ranks 20th in terms of production, because its heavy oil is more expensive to refine, but its production has increased further in recent months.

Chevron authorized to “circulate with Venezuelan oil”

Even if the United States keeps an eye on Venezuelan oil, Chevron, the North American giant in the sector, has been exploring and exporting it since 2023. This agreement was renewed by Donald Trump.

The ship intercepted on Saturday was not under American sanctions, Thomas Posado, an academic interviewed by RFI and author of the book “Venezuela, from revolution to collapse”, has no doubt about Washington’s true objective.

“It seems that the only ships that have the right to transport Venezuelan oil are those that have an agreement with Chevron and whose destination is the United States. So we have the impression that Donald Trump is trying to take over the Venezuelan oil trade,” says the expert.

In the American strategy of controlling barrel prices, having control of Venezuelan oil policy would be a great advantage.

This conflicting relationship is not new. From the 1920s until nationalization in 1976, the United States exploited Venezuela’s oil. Many North American refineries were designed to process crude oil extracted from Venezuelan soil.

However, at present, Chevron is the only company authorized to send Venezuelan oil to the United States, under the embargo imposed by Donald Trump himself in 2019.

This represents a little more than 200,000 barrels per day, said an industrial source, transported on ships which are not subject to sanctions, thus avoiding military operations.

RFI with AFP