US boards 5th tanker in crackdown on Venezuelan oil shipments

The US Coast Guard boarded a fifth oil tanker early Friday as Washington intensified efforts to enforce sanctions on Venezuelan oil shipments, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The report said the tanker, identified as the Olina and previously named Minerva M, was earlier sanctioned by the US for transporting Russian oil.

The move is expected to heighten tensions between Washington and Moscow, coming just days after the US seized a vessel that asserted Russian protection and was under escort by the Russian Navy.

The Trump administration is using the seizures as a tool to pressure Venezuela's interim government and sideline the so-called dark fleet of tankers. Also referred to as the shadow fleet, it consists of about 1,000 vessels that employ deceptive practices to hide their involvement in shipping sanctioned and illicit oil.

Roughly 70% of Venezuela's oil exports depend on sanctioned vessels to bypass US restrictions, and the actions are intended both to pressure Caracas and to warn Russia, China and Iran against defying US sanctions or aligning with Venezuela.