WASHINGTON/SINGAPORE, Jan 9 (Reuters) – The U.S. is in the process of seizing the Olina tanker in the Caribbean near Trinidad in the fifth such interdiction of ships in recent weeks as part of Washington’s efforts to control Venezuelan oil exports, two U.S. officials said on Friday.
The Olina, which according to public shipping database Equasis was falsely flying the flag of Timor Leste, had previously sailed from Venezuela and had returned to the region, said an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter.
“The vessel’s AIS (location) tracker was last active 52 days ago in the Venezuelan EEZ, northeast of Curacao,” British maritime risk management company Vanguard said separately.
“The seizure follows a prolonged pursuit of tankers linked to sanctioned Venezuelan oil shipments in the region.”
The Olina left Venezuela last week fully loaded with oil as part of a flotilla shortly after the U.S. seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3, and the vessel was returning fully loaded to Venezuela following the U.S. blockade of Venezuelan oil exports, the industry source said.
The U.S. imposed sanctions on the tanker in January last year, when it was named the Minerva M, for what Washington said was it being part of the so-called shadow fleet of ships that sail with little regulation or known insurance.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali, Phil Stewart, Chen Aizhu and Jonathan Saul. Editing by Mark Potter and Hugh Lawson)
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