US reportedly pursuing third oil tanker linked to Venezuela

The US Coast Guard is in “active pursuit” of a vessel in international waters near Venezuela as tensions in the region continue to escalate.

US authorities have already seized two oil tankers this month – one of them on Saturday.

Sunday’s pursuit related to a “sanctioned dark fleet vessel that is part of Venezuela’s illegal sanctions evasion”, a US official told the BBC’s partner CBS News. “It is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”

The Trump administration has accused Venezuela of using oil money to fund drug-related crime, while Venezuela has described the tanker seizures as “piracy”.

According to the New York Times (NYT), late on Saturday the US Coast Guard approached an oil tanker, which US officials said was not flying a valid national flag.

British maritime risk management group Vanguard identified the tanker as Bella 1, a very large crude oil carrier which reportedly was on its way to Venezuela to pick up oil.

The US added the Bella 1 to its sanctions list last year for allegedly “carrying sanctioned cargo”.

When it added the Bella 1 to its sanctions list, the US Treasury Department accused its registered owner of having links to Iran and of providing support Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The NYT reports the tanker “did not submit to being boarded” and fled northeast into the Atlantic Ocean with the US Cost Guard in pursuit.

BBC Verify has been analysing 50 distress signals transmitted by Bella 1, the first of which was picked up at 13:44 GMT on 21 December, 461km (286 miles) north east of Antigua and Barbuda.

The final distress call was received at 17:13 GMT the same day, around 60km (37 miles) further north east in the Atlantic Ocean.

The distance between the two points suggests it was travelling at a speed of around 10 knots (11.5mph).

The Bella 1 is the third oil tanker to be targeted by the US in waters off Venezuela.

On 10 December, the Coast Guard seized the Skipper, which US Attorney General Pam Bondi said was “used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran”.

The Skipper has since been taken under escort to Galveston in Texas, where it arrived on Sunday.

On Saturday, Coast Guard personnel boarded a tanker with the name Centuries written on its side.

While the Centuries does not appear on the US Treasury’s list of sanctioned vessels, the White House said that it carried oil from Venezuela’s state-run oil company, PDVSA.

US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that the Centuries was “operating as part of the Venezuelan shadow fleet to traffic stolen oil and fund the narcoterrorist Maduro regime”.

The seizure of the tankers is the latest development in the US’s pressure campaign against the government of Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro.

Since Trump returned into office in January, the US has doubled the reward it offers for information leading to Maduro’s capture, declared his government a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) and last week, ordered a “blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving the country.

As the Venezuelan government relies heavily on profits from oil exports to finance its spending, this latest move has caused particular outrage with Venezuelan officials.

While President Maduro did not refer to the seizure of the Centuries or the pursuit of the Bella 1 directly, he denounced US actions as “piracy” in comments he made on Sunday.

Maduro has also accused the US of trying to seize Venezuela’s oil riches – the South American country has the world’s largest proven oil reserves.

At Venezuela’s request, the United Nations Security will hold an emergency session on Tuesday to discuss what Caracas has described as “ongoing US aggression”.

China on Monday appeared to side with Venezuela with a spokesperson for the foreign ministry denouncing “unilateral and illegal sanctions that lack a basis in international law or authorisation by the United Nations Security Council”.

The spokesperson added that “Venezuela has the right to develop independently and engage in a mutually beneficial cooperation with other nations”.