By Jonathan Saul, Marianna Parraga and Matt Spetalnick
HOUSTON/LONDON/WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The U.S. is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil following the seizure of a tanker this week, as it increases pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, six sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The seizure was the first interdiction of an oil cargo or tanker from Venezuela, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2019. The action came as the U.S. executes
a large-scale military buildup in the southern Caribbean and as U.S. President Donald Trump campaigns for Maduro's ouster.
The seizure has put shipowners, operators and maritime agencies involved in transporting Venezuelan crude on alert, with many reconsidering whether to sail from Venezuelan waters in the coming days as planned, shipping sources said.
Further direct interventions by the U.S. are expected in the coming weeks targeting ships carrying Venezuelan oil that may also have transported oil from other countries targeted by U.S. sanctions, such as Iran, according to the sources familiar with the matter who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.
U.S. ASSEMBLES TANKER TARGET LIST: SOURCE
Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment. Venezuela's government this week said the U.S. seizure constituted a "theft." The White House National Security Council did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The U.S. has assembled a target list of several more sanctioned tankers for possible seizure, according to one of the people familiar with the matter.
The U.S. Justice Department and Homeland Security had been planning the seizures for months, according to two of the people.
A reduction or halt in Venezuelan oil exports, the main generator of revenue for the Venezuelan government, would strain the Maduro government's finances.
The new U.S. approach focuses on the activities of what is called the shadow fleet of tankers that transports sanctioned oil to China, the largest buyer of crude from Venezuela and Iran. A single vessel will often make separate runs on behalf of Iran, Venezuela and Russia, the sources added.
The seizure of the tanker, carrying the name Skipper, caused at least one shipper to temporarily suspend the voyages of three freshly loaded shipments totaling almost 6 million barrels of Venezuela's flagship export grade, Merey, sources said.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul in London, Marianna Parraga and Arathy Somasekhar in Houston, Matt Spetalnick in Washington and Aizhu Chen in Singapore; Editing by Christian Plumb, Simon Webb, Rod Nickel)
