President Donald Trump is prepared to seize more oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, a White House official told CNBC on Thursday.
The United States on Wednesday seized a tanker believed to be transporting oil from Venezuela to Iran. The move comes as President Trump ramps up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.
A White House official told CNBC that the Trump administration is always committed to enforcing the law.
Oil markets are keeping an eye on the Ukraine peace talks, which so far have not shown any risk of major supply disruptions. US crude oil Oil prices last fell $1.04 (1.78%) to $57.42 per barrel. global benchmark brent fell $1.10, or 1.77%, to $61.11.
Sources earlier told Reuters that the United States is expected to target more ships carrying Venezuelan oil in the coming weeks. The Treasury Department updated its Venezuela sanctions list on Thursday, adding more than a dozen people, companies and tankers.
The tanker seized on Wednesday was a very large crude carrier (VLCC), identified as the captain, Matt Smith, principal U.S. analyst at energy consulting firm Kpler, told CNBC. Smith said a secret shipment of 1.1 million barrels appeared in mid-November en route to Cuba.
White House press secretary Caroline Levitt told reporters Thursday that the tanker will be taken to a U.S. port and the crude oil will be seized. “But there is a legal process for seizing that oil, and that legal process will be followed,” Levitt said.
The seizure of the tanker came amid a major U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean. In recent months, the Trump administration has launched a series of deadly attacks on boats intended to traffic drugs into the United States, and the attacks have come under intense scrutiny in Congress over their legality.
Venezuela is a founding member of OPEC and has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. It has exported about 749,000 barrels per day this year, at least half of which went to China, according to Kpler data.
