By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) – The United States is handing over to Venezuela a tanker that it seized this month, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Wednesday.
The United States has been carrying out a months-long effort to seize oil tankers linked to Venezuela – carrying out seven apprehensions since late last year.
The officials, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, identified the vessel being handed over to Venezuelan authorities as the Panama-flagged supertanker M/T Sophia. They did not say why the tanker was returned.
The U.S. Coast Guard, which leads interdiction and seizure operations, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Venezuelan communications ministry, which handles all press queries for the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Sophia was carrying oil when it was interdicted on January 7 by the Coast Guard and U.S. military forces. At the time, the administration said the Sophia, which is under sanctions, was a “stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker.”
One of the sources did not know if the Sophia still had oil on board.
Trump has focused his foreign policy in Latin America on Venezuela, initially aiming to push Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power. After failing to find a diplomatic solution, Trump ordered U.S. forces to fly into the country to grab him and his wife in a daring overnight raid on January 3.
Since then, Trump has said the U.S. plans to control Venezuela’s oil resources indefinitely as it seeks to rebuild the country’s dilapidated oil industry in a $100 billion plan.
Earlier this months, the Sophia and another seized tanker were seen near Puerto Rico.
Along with most tankers under Western sanctions or part of the so-called shadow fleet, many of the Venezuela-linked tankers seized were built over 20 years ago and pose hazards to shipping because they lack safety certification and adequate insurance, experts said.
That means that if they have a collision or oil spill, establishing insurance claims or liability is very difficult to impossible, shipping and insurance industry sources said.
Dubai-run GMS has applied for a U.S. license to buy and scrap ships seized by the U.S. government linked to Venezuelan oil trading.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Chris Reese, Rod Nickel and Cynthia Osterman)
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