U.S. authorities seized a third oil tanker linked to Venezuela after a chase in the Caribbean, marking a significant enforcement action.
U.S. officials have seized a third oil tanker linked to Venezuela following a chase in the Caribbean Sea. This operation marks the second tanker seizure conducted by U.S. forces in less than 24 hours.
The U.S. Coast Guard attempted to stop the 2002-built VLCC Bella 1 late Saturday night. According to three U.S. officials speaking to the New York Times, the vessel was not flying a valid national flag, classifying Bella 1 as a 'stateless vessel' under international law and making it subject to control on the high seas.
While some maritime databases indicate that the vessel is flagged under Guyana, other sources state it operates under the Panamanian flag, with some records showing that the vessel's flag is completely unknown. According to Equasis data, Bella 1 is owned and operated by Istanbul-based Louis Marine Shipholding.
U.S. officials stated that they had a seizure order issued by a federal magistrate, allowing them to take control of the vessel. They clarified that the seizure decision was based not on the vessel's connections to Venezuela, but due to its relationship with the Iranian oil trade, which led to it being placed on the sanctions list by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Bella 1 was previously sanctioned in 2022 under the name Adisa. At that time, the U.S. Department of the Treasury described the vessel as part of a 'broad international oil smuggling operation that funds the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force and Hezbollah.'
Officials reported that the vessel resisted being stopped, leading to a brief chase, but Bella 1 was ultimately seized by U.S. forces.
Maritime data analysis company Kpler stated that Bella 1 was en route to load oil from Venezuela but was not carrying any cargo at the time of the operation. Kpler also noted that the vessel's history includes activities to evade sanctions, such as transporting Iranian and Venezuelan crude oil, prolonged AIS signal outages, fraud, and 'dark' ship-to-ship transfers in Asia.
This operation marks the third tanker seized by the U.S. since President Donald Trump declared a 'full and complete blockade' on oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuelan waters.
Early Saturday morning, U.S. officials also seized the Panama-flagged VLCC Centuries, which was carrying Venezuelan crude oil, east of Barbados. The first tanker operation took place on December 10 against a vessel named Skipper.
The last two seizures occurred despite naval forces escorting vessels carrying oil and oil derivatives departing from Venezuelan ports. In the case of Bella 1, tracking data revealed that the vessel had not yet entered Venezuelan waters and that there were no escort vessels present before it was stopped by U.S. forces.
Source: www.denizhaber.com
