WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 U.S. forces boarded another oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, the U.S. military said, as the Trump administration\u00a0targets sanctioned tankers\u00a0traveling to and from Venezuela as part of a broader effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.<\/p>\n
The pre-dawn action was carried out by Marines and Navy sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, part of the extensive force the U.S. has built up in the Caribbean in recent months, according to U.S. Southern Command, which declared \u201cthere is no safe haven for criminals\u201d as it announced the seizure of the tanker called the Olina. The Coast Guard then took control of the vessel, officials said.<\/p>\n
Southern Command and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem both posted unclassified footage on social media of a U.S. helicopter landing on the vessel and U.S. personnel conducting a search of the deck and tossing what appeared to be an explosive device in front of a door leading to inside the ship.<\/p>\n
In her social media post, Noem said the ship was \u201canother \u2018ghost fleet\u2019 tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil\u201d and it had departed Venezuela \u201cattempting to evade U.S. forces.”<\/p>\n
The Olina is the fifth tanker that has been seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by President Donald Trump\u2019s administration to control the production, refining and\u00a0global distribution of Venezuela\u2019s oil products\u00a0following the U.S. ouster of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in\u00a0a surprise nighttime raid.<\/p>\n
Samir Madani, co-founder of\u00a0TankerTrackers.com, said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document that at least 16 tankers left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships from conducting trade. The Olina was among that flotilla.<\/p>\n
U.S. government records show that the Olina was sanctioned for moving Russian oil under its prior name, Minerva M, and flagged in Panama.<\/p>\n
While records show the Olina is now flying the flag of Timor-Leste, it is listed in the international shipping registry as having a false flag, meaning the registration it is claiming is not valid. In July, the owner and manager of the ship on its registration was changed to a company in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
According to ship tracking databases, the Olina last transmitted its location in November in the Caribbean, north of the Venezuelan coast. Since then, however, the ship has been running dark with its location beacon turned off.<\/p>\n
While Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law, other officials in the Trump administration have made clear they see it as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.<\/p>\n
In an early morning post on his social media network, Trump said the U.S. and Venezuela \u201care working well together, especially as it pertains to rebuilding, in a much bigger, better, and more modern form, their oil and gas infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The administration said it expects to sell 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil, with the proceeds to go to both the U.S. and Venezuelan people. But the president expects the arrangement to continue indefinitely as he\u00a0meets on Friday\u00a0with executives from 17 oil companies to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution.<\/p>\n
Vice President JD Vance told Fox News this week that the U.S. can \u201ccontrol\u201d Venezuela\u2019s \u201cpurse strings\u201d by dictating where its oil can be sold.<\/p>\n
Madani estimated that the Olina is loaded with 707,000 barrels of oil, which at the current market price of about $60 a barrel would be worth more than $42 million.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Associated Press writers D\u00e1nica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Josh Boak in Washington contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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