US forces are continuing the pressure on Venezuela with the seizure of a third tanker in just two days. Maritime security specialist Vanguard said that the falsely flagged Timor-Leste tanker Olina had been seized by US forces in the Caribbean after breaking away from the US naval blockade off Venezuela. The 2005-built tanker’s AIS tracker was last active 52 days ago in the Venezuelan exclusive economic zone, northeast of Curacao. According to Reuters, Olina had previously sailed from ‌Venezuela and had returned to ‌the region when it was seized. The seizure of the 114,809 dwt vessel follows a prolonged pursuit of tankers linked to sanctioned Venezuelan oil shipments in the region. This is the fifth seizure of a tanker by Washington in recent weeks in efforts to ​control Venezuelan oil exports. Available Equasis data reveals that the Olina is owned by the Hong Kong-based company Tantye Peur. On Thursday, US forces seized two Venezuela-linked tankers. One is the 2002-built VLCC Marinera, formerly known as the Bella 1. The US Coast Guard tried to intercept the vessel on December 20 in the Caribbean when it was heading towards Venezuela. Since then, it had been pursued by US authorities across the North Atlantic until it was seized yesterday. Russia even reportedly deployed a submarine and other naval assets to escort the tanker across the ocean. The Russian Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the seizure of the vessel. It said that such actions “can only lead to a further escalation of military and political tensions in the Euro-Atlantic region, as well as a visible lowering of the threshold for the use of force against peaceful shipping”. The other seized vessel was the 2004-built, 320,000 dwt tanker M Sophia. The vessel was intercepted in the Caribbean and is being escorted by the US Coast Guard to the US for final disposition. Both were sanctioned vessels and described as part of the shadow fleet. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsUnited States Venezuela