At least four tankers, most of them loaded, that had departed from Venezuela in early January with their transponders off amid a strict US blockade - are now back in the South American country's waters, according to state company PDVSA and monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.
A flotilla of about a dozen loaded vessels and at least three other empty ships left Venezuelan waters last month in apparent defiance of an embargo imposed by US President Donald Trump since mid-December, which has dragged down the country's oil exports to minimum.
One of the ships, the Panama-flagged VLCC M Sophia, was intercepted and seized by the US this week when returning to the country; while another, the Aframax tanker Olina flagged in Sao Tome And Principe, was intercepted but released to Venezuela on Friday, state company PDVSA said.
Three more of the vessels that had departed in that flotilla, Panama-flagged Merope, Cook Islands-flagged Min Hang and Panama-flagged Thalia III, were spotted by Tankertrackers.com in Venezuelan waters late on Friday through satellite images.
US authorities had said on Friday that Olina - previously known as Minerva M - would be freed. The next step for the country, which remains under strict US supervision after it captured and extracted illegitimate president Nicolas Maduro last week, would be the beginning of organized crude exports as part of a $2 billion oil supply deal Caracas and Washington are negotiating, they said.
In a meeting with top oil company executives on Friday, US President Donald Trump said arrangements for the supply had progressed. Global trading houses Vitol and Trafigura this week received the first US licenses to negotiate and carry Venezuela's exports, and naphtha supplies to the OPEC country also are expected, sources said.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Julia Symmes Cobb)
