Chris writes: "If the blockade no longer exists, why don't the ships sail off to their original destinations (Cuba and China)? Why did they need to "discharge" their cargo?"
Simple. Because after the defeat inflicted on January 3, the US took over control of the sale of Venezuela's oil, and the Venezuelan government accepted the new terms. Why would the US want or need to blockade something it controls and which Venezuela has accepted? We should denounce this situation, not a naval blockade that doesn't exist. Chris writes: "Presumably because the ship owners believe that if they try to go to Cuba or China, the US will take over their ships and steal the oil (as they did with 9 tankers in December and January)." We don't need to presume, we know exactly why. Any cargo on these ships do not belong to the shipowners but rather belong de jure to PDVSA/Venezuela and de facto to the US, so they can not just leave with the oil, otherwise they would be the ones stealing. And this was precisely what one of them did: Olina. And it was PDVSA and Venezuelan authorities that requested the US military bring back the ghost ships after it tried to do what Chris suggested and leave Venezuela carrying cargo “without payment or authorization from the authorities.” https://elpitazo.net/economia/pdvsa-confirma-el-retorno-de-buque-incautado-a-aguas-venezolanas-en-operacion-conjunta-con-ee-uu/ ( https://elpitazo.net/economia/pdvsa-confirma-el-retorno-de-buque-incautado-a-aguas-venezolanas-en-operacion-conjunta-con-ee-uu/ ) Chris wants to insist there is a blockade to avoid the reality of the situation and say the Venezuelan government has no options. But pretending a naval blockade exists forces us to conclude that the Venezuelan government is not just not challenging it, but enabling its enforcement. A better starting point is looking at the facts of the matter. Chris writes: "Thus the blockade continues to have an impact on Venezuela's oil exports." If that is the case, the naval blockade is failing miserably as oil exports are rapidly rising: "Venezuela's oil exports rose 14% to 1.23 million barrels per day in April, the highest in more than seven years, fueled by more sales to the United States, India and Europe, shipping data and documents from state company PDVSA showed on Friday." https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/venezuelas-oil-exports-jump-highest-since-2018-with-more-sales-us-india-2026-05-01/ Of course, the issue is not volume of exports, but who benefits from this. Again, fixating on a non-existent naval blockade means missing what is actually happening in Venezuela. Chris writes: "(I have not read the Bloomberg article because it is behind a paywall)" Here is the full article: Ghost Oil Tankers’ Reversal Signals Venezuela’s Long Road Ahead By Lucia Kassai May 14, 2026 at 1:59 PM UTC https://archive.is/TfoZr#selection-1211.0-1669.303 Two so-called ghost tankers are returning their oil to Venezuela, highlighting the struggles the country faces as it tries to grow its beleaguered oil industry after years of illicit trading. The vessels Olina and Galaxy 3 are offloading their oil nearly five months after taking it, according to port documents and vessel movements tracked by Bloomberg. It’s unusual for a crude tanker to return its load and their moves are in stark contrast to the US-facilitated sales carried out after former president Nicolás Maduro’s ouster. The original destinations for the Olina and Galaxy 3 are unknown, but most likely they were going to sail to Cuba and China, two countries that kept buying Venezuelan oil despite sanctions. Meanwhile, two other vessels from the global shadow fleet, the Romana and the MS Melenia, remain stuck in Venezuela since December. Olina’s journey was interrupted when US Forces boarded the ship in Caribbean waters a few days after the country’s strongman Maduro was removed from power. At the time, US President Donald Trump sent the sanctioned ship back to Venezuela as part of his move to assert control of the nation’s oil sales. It’s discharging 713,000 barrels on Thursday. Earlier this week another vessel from the global dark fleet, identified as Galaxy 3, returned almost 1 million barrels. The ship has been stranded in Venezuelan since the end of last year. Last week the US imported 588,000 barrels a day from the South American nation, the highest recorded volume since early 2019, when the US first imposed a de facto ban on oil imports from the country. During the seven years of harsher US sanctions, Petroleos de Venezuela SA used an armada of ghost tankers to send oil to Asia. These vessels routinely disable satellite tracking, allowing them to sail under the radar of sanctions. To keep producing oil, PDVSA relied on imported feedstock from Iran and Russia to make its oil suitable for pipeline transportation and refining. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41740): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41740 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119336058/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
