WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) – The U.S. has begun marketing Venezuelan oil and all proceeds from its sale will initially settle in U.S.-controlled accounts at globally recognized banks, the Department of Energy said in a statement released on Wednesday.
“We have engaged the world’s leading commodity marketers and key banks to execute and provide financial support for these crude oil and crude products sales,” the department said.
After capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an attack on Caracas on Saturday, the U.S. is continuing to blockade vessels under sanctions off the South American country, a member of the OPEC oil group.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the U.S. would refine and sell up to 50 million barrels of crude stuck in Venezuela under the U.S. blockade.
The U.S. seized an empty Russian-flagged, Venezuela-linked oil tanker in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday as part of Trump’s push to dictate oil flows in the Americas and force Venezuela’s socialist government to become an ally.
(Reporting by Megan Davies; Writing by Katharine Jackson; editing by Costas Pitas and David Ljunggren)
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