US cites four more vessels, entities for illegally transporting Venezuelan oil to Cuba

The US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has designated four entities that operate in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy pursuant to Executive Order 13850.

Additionally, the OFAC has identified four vessels that transport oil and other petroleum products from Venezuela to Cuba as blocked property owned or controlled by the four designated entities.

The agency claims that, since the January 28, 2019 designation of Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), Cubametales, the Cuban state-run oil import and export company, and other Cuba-based entities have continued to circumvent sanctions by receiving oil shipments from Venezuela.

The OFAC's action further targets Venezuela's oil sector and the mechanisms used to transport oil to Cuban entities that continue to provide a lifeline to the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, which the US government claims is illegitimate.

The designated entities and vessels are as follows:

• Caroil Transport Marine is based in Cyprus and operates three vessels: Carlota C, Sandino, and Petion.
  • Carlota C is a chemical/products tanker that recently delivered Venezuelan petroleum products, including gasoline, to Cuba. In August 2019, PdVSA, Cubametales, and Cuban officials arranged to ship gasoline from El Palito, Venezuela, to Cuba. Later in August, Carlota C traveled from Venezuela to the Havana Port Petroleum Refinery in Cuba.
  • Sandino is a chemical/products tanker that recently delivered Venezuelan oil products to Cuba.
  • Petion is a products tanker that loaded crude oil as part of a shipment involving Cubametales and PDVSA in late May 2019.
• Trocana World is based in Panama and is the registered owner of Petion.
• Tovase Development Corporation is based in Panama and is the registered owner of Sandino.
• Bluelane Overseas SA is based in Panama and is the registered owner of Giralt, a crude oil tanker that recently delivered Venezuelan oil to Cuba.

All property and interests in property of the aforementioned entities, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 per cent or more by the designated entities, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all transactions by US persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.