Oil Tankers Turn Away From Venezuela as More Sanctions Loom

Oil Tankers Turn Away From Venezuela as More Sanctions Loom
A bus drives over the General Rafael Urdaneta bridge as an oil tanker sails the Maracaibo lake in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on March 15, 2019. Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images
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Two tankers that were sailing toward Venezuela to load crude have turned around since the weekend and three other vessels have left Venezuelan waters as the United States considers blacklisting dozens of ships for transporting the country’s oil, according to shipping data and industry sources.

Washington is considering imposing sanctions on tankers involved in exporting Venezuela’s oil as the U.S. government seeks to choke off the main source of revenue for socialist President Nicolas Maduro.