U.S. blacklists oil traders for undermining sanctions

The United States on Tuesday sanctioned a network of oil trading firms, individuals and vessels that have helped Venezuelan state-run oil company PDVSA sell crude mainly to Asia despite Washington’s sanctions on the South American nation.

The measure targets a network that the U.S. Treasury Department says helped the administration of President Nicolas Maduro, whose 2018 reelection Washington called a sham, broker the sale of hundreds of millions of dollars in Venezuelan oil.

“Those facilitating the illegitimate Maduro regime’s attempts to circumvent United States sanctions contribute to the corruption that consumes Venezuela,” Treasury Secretary Steven

Mnuchin said in a news release.

The Treasury said its Office of Foreign Assets Control targeted three individuals, 14 entities and six vessels for their ties to a network attempting to evade U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector. It said the “principal actors” were Alessandro Bazzoni, Francisco D’Agostino and Philipp Apikian, as well as oil trading firms, including Elemento Ltd. and Swissoil Trading SA.

Washington first imposed sanctions on PDVSA limiting its oil sales in early 2019, which cut off its main destination for exports, the United States. The measure was followed last year by sanctions on two units of PDVSA’s main trading partner, Russia’s Rosneft, as well as shipping sanctions blacklisting tankers involved in the transportation.