U.S. seizes another oil tanker leaving Venezuela
Jan. 9 (UPI) — The United States on Friday seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea as it works to control Venezuela’s oil, military officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Marines captured the Olina overnight, officials said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on X that the ship was “suspected of carrying embargoed oil” and had tried “to evade U.S. forces” as it left Venezuela.
The U.S. Southern Command posted on X that it’s “unwavering in its mission to defend our homeland by ending illicit activity and restoring security in the Western Hemisphere.”
“In a pre-dawn action, Marines and Sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford and apprehended Motor/Tanker Olina in the Caribbean Sea without incident,” the post said.
The operation was part of Joint Task Force Southern Spear.
The Coast Guard is planning to boost its ability to inspect and repair seized foreign tankers, The Washington Post reported, signaling that it will continue to seize the tankers. Many of the tankers are in too poor condition to be accepted by U.S. ports.
The Coast Guard sent out an internal call for personnel to increase its teams of inspectors to visit seized tankers, assess them and fix safety concerns before they come to U.S. ports, The Post reported. The message does not say how many people it needs, but it does say that those eligible must be “capable of offshore boardings and long hours aboard the vessel.”
“These vessels are stateless and beyond substandard,” the Coast Guard said in its internal message.
Since President Donald Trump declared a “complete blockade” of Venezuelan oil exports in December, the Coast Guard has taken at least four ships.
In mid-December, the U.S. seized an oil tanker called The Skipper. It is held offshore near the Port of Galveston, Texas. On Wednesday, the U.S. seized the Bella-1 in the North Atlantic after pursuing the ship for weeks. It also seized the Sophia in the Caribbean.
On Friday, the Kremlin thanked Washington for agreeing to release two of the Bella-1’s Russian crew members.
“In response to our appeal, U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to release two Russian citizens from among the crew of the tanker Marinera, who had previously been detained by the American side during an operation in the North Atlantic,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Telegram. “We welcome this decision and express our gratitude to the U.S. leadership.”
“Ghost fleets” like the Bella-1 operate with false paperwork or flags. They ship sanctioned oil to China and other destinations. The U.S. government has said the oil sales fund narco-terrorism.
Mark Cancian, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told The Post there are hundreds of these ships and are often in bad shape. If they don’t meet safety standards or risk a spill, they are denied entry to a U.S. port.
“They tend to be at the end of their service life — old, in poor condition,” Cancian said.