The US has seized a very large crude carrier (VLCC) accused of moving sanctioned Venezuelan and Iranian oil, officials said on 7 January.
The Marinera — formerly known as Bella-1 — was intercepted in the north Atlantic under a US federal court warrant for sanctions violations, after being tracked by the USCGC Munro, the US European Command said.
Tracking data show Marinera approached Venezuela unladen last month, indicating an attempt to load crude there. The vessel previously shipped 7.3mn bl of Iranian crude and 3.7mn bl of Venezuelan crude to China, according to ship research firm TankerTrackers.com.
US Homeland Security and the US Department of Defense co-ordinated the operation as part of a "whole-of-government approach", the US European Command said.
"The blockade of sanctioned and illicit Venezuelan oil remains in FULL EFFECT — anywhere in the world," said US defense secretary Pete Hegseth.
Marinera stopped transmitting its Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals on 14 December near Venezuela, reappeared on 1 January in mid-Atlantic, and was sailing near Iceland and Ireland before its capture, Kpler data show. The tanker was flagged to Russia at the time of its seizure.
It follows the recent capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and the earlier seizure of two other tankers, marking a sharp escalation in US efforts to choke off Venezuela's sanctioned oil flows.
