Will Venezuelan oil affect US gas prices?
President Donald Trump has said big oil companies will spend billions of dollars in Venezuela, but experts say gas prices are unlikely to change anytime soon.
After more than two weeks of manhunt, U.S. forces seized a Venezuelan-linked oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean on January 7, U.S. officials said.
“The vessel was captured in the North Atlantic Ocean pursuant to a warrant issued by a U.S. federal court after being pursued by USCGC Munro,” U.S. European Command announced on social media.
Reuters reported that the ship, named Marinella, had escaped a U.S. blockade of sanctioned ships near Venezuela and was being escorted by a Russian submarine as U.S. forces attempted to board it.
No U.S. troops were injured, the newspaper reported.
Earlier in the day, U.S. forces seized another tanker named Sophia, which officials said was operating in international waters and “conducting illegal activities in the Caribbean.”
“The blockade of sanctioned and illegal Venezuelan oil remains in full effect everywhere in the world,” Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote in a post on X.
However, tightening that blockade could prove to be a difficult task and lead to further seizures. The New York Times reported that in recent days, a number of ships have simultaneously and seemingly coordinated efforts to evade U.S. ships in attempts to break through the blockade, and that at least three tankers operating in the area (in addition to Marinella) have adopted Russian flags.
The capture of Marinella, which involved the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy, followed a pursuit that lasted more than two weeks across the ocean, with the Russian warship being monitored “in close proximity,” two U.S. officials told the program.
In December, the Coast Guard attempted to seize the vessel, initially named Vera-1, after it evaded a U.S. naval blockade against the sanctioned tanker and refused a request to board. It has since been registered under the Russian flag, Reuters reported.
Later in the day, Russia called the seizure a “violation of maritime law,” and a senior lawmaker described it as “outright piracy,” according to Reuters.
Russia’s Transport Ministry said it had lost contact with the Marinella after the U.S. Navy boarded it near Iceland as part of an effort to block oil exports from Venezuela.
“In accordance with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, freedom of navigation applies on the high seas and no state has the right to use force against a vessel duly registered within the jurisdiction of another state,” the ministry said in a statement seen by Reuters.
On January 3, the United States detained Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a surprise attack on the oil-rich country. The couple is currently in federal custody in the United States on federal drug trafficking charges.
The seizure also came less than a day after President Donald Trump announced that the Venezuelan regime would hand over up to 50 million barrels of “sanctioned oil” to the United States after it detained President Maduro.
“This oil will be sold at market price and managed by me, the President of the United States, to ensure that the funds are used for the benefit of the people of Venezuela and the United States,” Trump wrote in a Jan. 6 social media post.
The White House is scheduled to hold a press conference at 11 a.m. ET.
This is a developing story.
Contributor: Davis Winkie, USA TODAY and Reuters
Natalie Neisa Alland is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.
