OFAC Sanctions Companies, Ships for Operating in Venezuelan Oil Sector

The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two companies and two ships for operating in the Venezuelan oil sector, Treasury said in a May 10 press release. As part of the announcement, it said that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “determined that persons operating in the defense and security sector of the Venezuelan economy” may be sanctioned.

OFAC sanctioned Monsoon Navigation Corporation and Serenity Maritime Limited for owning and operating the Ocean Elegance crude oil tanker and the Leon Dias chemical and oil tanker, respectively. OFAC said both companies delivered oil from Venezuela to Cuba from late 2018 to March 2019. Monsoon Navigation is based in the Marshall Islands and Serenity Maritime is based in Liberia, OFAC said.

Treasury said the designations were a “direct response” to the Venezuelan security force’s “illegal arrest of National Assembly members” and are aimed at targeting those associated with the defense and intelligence sectors under the Nicolas Maduro regime. “The U.S. will take further action if Cuba continues to receive Venezuelan oil in exchange for military support,” Mnuchin said in a statement. “As we have repeatedly said, the path to sanctions relief for those who have been sanctioned is to take concrete and meaningful actions to restore democratic order.”