U.S. Seizes Two Tankers as Rubio Says It Will Control Venezuelan Oil

U.S. forces seized two Venezuela-linked oil tankers on Wednesday, one of them a Russian-flagged vessel taken in the North Atlantic, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio said an American oil “quarantine” gives the United States “tremendous leverage” over Venezuela’s interim authorities, according to NBC News, Al Jazeera and CBS News.

The first ship, the Marinera, formerly known as the Bella 1, was seized early Wednesday in the North Atlantic under a warrant from a U.S. federal court, according to U.S. European Command, NBC News reported. Al Jazeera reported that U.S. special forces took the vessel after a weeks-long pursuit, that it was seized for violations of U.S. sanctions, and that it had slipped through the U.S. blockade of sanctioned tankers and refused a Coast Guard boarding attempt in the Caribbean in December. Both outlets reported that the ship was Russian-flagged; Russia’s Transport Ministry said it had received temporary permission to sail under the Russian flag on Dec. 24.

Russia objected. The Transport Ministry said no state has the right to use force against vessels registered under another state’s jurisdiction, citing the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, NBC News and Al Jazeera reported. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Marinera was “deemed stateless” after “flying a false flag,” and that the crew would be prosecuted under U.S. law, NBC News reported.

The U.S. also seized a second ship, the M/T Sophia, in the Caribbean. NBC News said U.S. Southern Command described it as a stateless, sanctioned “dark fleet” tanker, and Al Jazeera quoted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as saying it was seized in international waters near the Caribbean. Noem said both ships were either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it, according to Al Jazeera, and NBC News reported that she called the operations “safe, effective boardings.”

At the Capitol, Rubio said the United States will first take 30 million to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil, to be sold, and will decide how the proceeds are spent, with the stated aim of benefiting Venezuelans and avoiding corruption, according to CBS News and Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera reported that the funds “will first settle in U.S.-controlled accounts at globally recognized banks” and that the United States says it will control sales “indefinitely.” CBS News reported that the oil would be sold at market rates, with crude recently around $60 a barrel, and that Venezuela’s interim leaders cannot move any oil without U.S. approval.

Rubio laid out a three-phase approach, CBS News and Al Jazeera reported: stabilization; recovery, which gives American and other companies access to Venezuela’s market alongside national reconciliation and amnesty for opposition forces; and a transition, for which he gave no details. Oil experts told CBS News that rebuilding Venezuela’s oil industry would take years.

Al Jazeera reported that most Republicans backed the administration after a Senate briefing, while Democrats questioned the operation’s duration, cost and the possibility of U.S. troops on the ground. Maduro was seized on Jan. 3 and faces drug trafficking charges in New York, which he denies, according to Al Jazeera. United Nations experts warned that Venezuela’s resources “must not be cynically exploited,” Al Jazeera reported.