PB Tankers removed from US sanctions list

The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) has removed Italian shipowner PB Tankers from its Venezuela sanctions list.

The company was sanctioned by the US in April because one of its tankers, the Silver Point, was chartered by Cuban state-owned Cubametales to transport oil products from Venezuela to Cuba.

PB Tankers has since terminated the Silver Point's charter agreement with Cubametales and has taken "additional steps to increase scrutiny of its business operations to prevent future sanctionable activity", the Treasury Department said.

As a result, the company was today taken off the sanctions list. "All property and interests in property, which had been blocked as a result of PB Tankers' designation, are unblocked, and all otherwise lawful transactions involving US persons and PB Tankers are no longer prohibited," the Treasury Department said.

Meanwhile, the US has imposed sanctions on Cubametales.

PB Tankers has been unable to trade since the Ofac designation and is currently under court protection in Italy after filing for bankruptcy. The company said its vessels are "fully certified" with full crews on board and are ready to trade.

The delisted vessels are the Medium Range (MR) tankers Indian Point, positioned in the Sea of Marmara near Instanbul, the Gold Point positioned near Rotterdam, the Silver Point, Iron Point and Ice Point, all positioned in Freeport, Bahamas. PB Tankers' floating storage and offloading (FSO) unit, Alba Marina, has also been removed from the sanctions list.