(Bloomberg) — More oil tankers are turning away from Venezuela as the U.S. threatens to seize vessels carrying oil that helps finance the regime of President Nicolas Maduro.
At least seven ships reversed course or stopped at sea, according to ship movements tracked by Bloomberg on Friday. This is in addition to four others that turned away immediately after US forces boarded the Skipper in mid-December.
US President Donald Trump has accused Venezuela of using oil revenues to fund a range of criminal activities, including drug trafficking and terrorism. As part of Trump’s pressure campaign, US forces have seized two oil tankers and launched strikes on alleged drug smugglers’ boats, killing more than 100 people.
Venezuela has denied the allegations and called the US actions illegal.
In another sign of the escalation, the US struck a facility in Venezuela that was allegedly used to transport narcotics. It also sanctioned four Chinese companies and four vessels linked to the Venezuelan oil trade.
The vessels, which avoid Caribbean waters, are capable of carrying a combined 12.4 million barrels of oil. Four of them drifted away, while three others stopped at sea, the data show. As ships avoid sailing to Venezuela, its storage tanks are filling to the brim with oil, forcing state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela SA to shut down some oil wells. Production in the key Orinoco Basin, where most of the country’s oil is produced, fell 25% on December 29 compared to levels seen in mid-December.
Meanwhile, US oil company Chevron Corp continues to raise the price of Venezuelan oil under a license obtained with the US Treasury Department.
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