The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated two companies that operate in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy, pursuant to E.O. 13850, as amended. OFAC has also identified two vessels, which transported oil from Venezuela to Cuba, as blocked property owned by the two companies.
These designations are a direct response to SEBIN’s illegal arrest of National Assembly members, and they target those actors who have had a hand in the repressive Maduro defense and intelligence sector.
This includes Venezuela’s oil sector, which, according to the US, ‘continues to be critical to the survival of the illegitimate regime of former President Maduro’:
- Monsoon Navigation Corporation is based in Majuro, Marshall Islands, and is the registered owner of the vessel, Ocean Elegance. Ocean Elegance is a crude oil tanker that delivered crude oil from Venezuela to Cuba from late 2018 through March 2019;
- Serenity Maritime Limited is based in Monrovia, Liberia, and is the registered owner of the vessel, Leon Dias. Leon Dias is a chemical and oil tanker that delivered crude oil from Venezuela to Cuba from late 2018 through March 2019.
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As a result of these sanctions, all property and interests in property of these entities, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50% or more by the designated entities, that are in the US or in the possession or control of US persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.
OFAC’s regulations generally ban all dealings by US persons or within (or transiting) the US that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.
Explaining the character of the sanctions, the US says that they do not need to be permanent, rather they intend to bring about a positive change of behavior.
