After vanishing from view, two US-seized Venezuela oil tankers reappear near Puerto Rico

By Ricardo Arduengo and Arathy Somasekhar

PONCE, Puerto Rico/HOUSTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) – Two oil tankers seized this month by the U.S. in its campaign against Venezuela were near Puerto Rico on Wednesday, a Reuters witness and Tankertrackers.com data said, the first sightings almost since their capture and a possible hint at their destination.

The ships are supertanker M Sophia, seized by the U.S. on January 7 carrying Venezuelan oil, and the smaller tanker Galileo, formerly called Veronica and taken last week empty, although it has previously carried Venezuelan oil.

The M Sophia and Galileo are among seven vessels linked to Venezuelan oil exports captured by the U.S. military and Coast Guard in recent weeks, mostly in the Caribbean Sea.

U.S. officials have not disclosed destinations or plans for the seized vessels. The U.S. Coast Guard declined to comment, directing inquiries to the White House. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for a comment. 

Because the vessels’ geolocating beacons have not been turned on, the locations of M Sophia and Galileo were unknown until the Tankertrackers.com and witness confirmation on Wednesday.

The vessels could remain in Puerto Rico or be moved to another U.S. port. The other five captured tankers are near the U.S. Gulf Coast, in Venezuelan waters and near Scotland, shipping data showed.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said the U.S. intervention — including the capture of President Nicolás Maduro on January 3 — is aimed at stopping drug trafficking.

Washington intends to direct Venezuela’s government and revive the country’s crippled oil sector by bringing major U.S. oil companies in to rebuild it.

Trump has imposed a blockade to prevent sanctioned tankers from shipping Venezuelan oil, which in December brought exports close to a standstill. Shipments have accelerated in January under U.S. supervision, but millions of barrels remain in onshore and floating storage.

The U.S. government has filed for court warrants to seize dozens more tankers linked to the Venezuelan oil trade, sources told Reuters last week. This week, vessel Sagitta was intercepted.

Along with most tankers under Western sanctions or part of the so-called shadow fleet, many of the Venezuela-linked tankers 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. 

The age of these tankers, which exceeds the industry standard of 15 years, also raises concern about potential environmental damage, the sources said.

U.S. government civil forfeiture claims related to the ship seizures can take months or years to resolve, meaning there may be no immediate solutions to the challenges.

“These ‘dark fleet’ tankers can be incredibly unsafe. They are elderly, their crew work in unsafe conditions, lack the appropriate classification surveys, and they are often backed by fake insurance or no insurance at all,” said David Tannenbaum, a director at consulting firm Blackstone Compliance Services.

(Reporting by Ricardo Arduengo in Ponce, Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; additional reporting by Marianna Parraga and Jonathan Saul; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)