On January 9, the United States once again detained a Chinese Hong Kong oil tanker, marking the fifth time!
That day, the oil tanker named "Olina" was seized by the U.S. Coast Guard in collaboration with the U.S. military in the Caribbean Sea. The ship is registered in Hong Kong and flies the flag of East Timor. This is the fifth time in recent weeks that the U.S. has intercepted ships related to Venezuela or Russian oil trade in a similar manner.
The Olina had previously departed from Venezuela and then returned to the area. The cargo on board was not Venezuelan crude oil, but rather naphtha from Russia. This light petroleum product is extremely critical for Venezuela. Despite possessing the world's largest proven oil reserves, the country suffers from severe shortages in its refining capacity, as old equipment cannot effectively process its heavy crude oil. To dilute this crude oil to export standards, it must rely on imported naphtha as a diluent. Without it, Venezuela's oil exports have almost come to a standstill, and oil exports are the main source of foreign exchange for this country.
The issue is that this batch of naphtha, although sourced from Russia, may originally have been intended for Venezuela's oil production system. However, due to the continuous decline in the output capacity of Venezuela's oil fields, actual demand has decreased, and this cargo may have been repurposed, even planned for shipment to other markets - such as China, India, or Turkey, which are still major buyers of Russian energy at present.
The legal basis for this U.S. action remains its unilateral sanctions against Venezuela and Russia. Since 2019, the U.S. has imposed comprehensive sanctions on Venezuela's state-owned oil company (PDVSA), prohibiting transactions between it and U.S. entities, and attempting to cut off its access to key oil products through third parties. Notably, most of the ships involved in these five ship seizures are registered in flag-of-convenience countries (such as East Timor, Tanzania, Panama, etc.), operated by companies with Asian or Middle Eastern backgrounds.
This approach was originally intended to avoid geopolitical risks, but under the U.S. strengthened "secondary sanctions" logic, it has instead become more likely to be targeted. The U.S. Coast Guard is now completely unreasonable.
U.S. forces capture the President of Venezuela
Original: toutiao.com/article/1853901214919680/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.