US blacklists firms shipping Venezuelan oil

The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on four shipping companies transporting Venezuelan oil, stepping up efforts to isolate embattled President Nicolás Maduro.

Tankers belonging to Liberian shippers Jennifer Navigation Ltd, Lima Shipping Corp and Large Range Ltd were blacklisted, as were six vessels owned by Italy's PB Tankers.

The measure bars the companies from doing business with American citizens and freezes the firms' financial assets in the US. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said some of the vessels had been delivering crude to Cuba.

"We continue to target companies that transport Venezuelan oil. They are profiting while the Maduro regime pillages natural resources," treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

"Venezuela's oil belongs to the Venezuelan people, and should not be used as a bargaining tool to prop up dictators and prolong oppression," he said.

Washington's announcement comes a week after the US issued similar bans for 34 vessels owned by Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and two companies that ship oil to Cuba.

In January, US President Donald Trump barred Maduro from accessing PDVSA assets worth US$7bn as part of a move that essentially blocked the sale of Venezuelan crude to the US market.

The US and more than 50 other countries have said they recognize national assembly leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's president pending free and transparent elections.

Guaidó declared himself the interim head of state in January, citing three articles of the constitution to affirm Maduro's illegitimacy.