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U.S. Sanctions Four Shipping Companies for Venezuela Ties

U.S. Sanctions Four Shipping Companies for Venezuela Ties

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. said it would sanction four shipping companies with ties to Venezuela, as well as nine ships.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said in a web posting on Friday that Jennifer Navigation Ltd., Large Range Ltd. and Lima Shipping Corp., all of Liberia, and PB Tankers, an Italian company, had been added to its sanctions list. The posting didn’t explain why the companies were targeted, but said the action was Venezuela-related.

A week ago, the Trump administration sanctioned two companies for allegedly delivering oil from Venezuela to Cuba, part of a continuing effort to step up pressure on the regime of President Nicolas Maduro.

The Treasury Department said last week’s sanctions show how the oil industry provides a “lifeline” to Venezuela’s government, led by Maduro, an autocrat under pressure from the U.S. to step down. The U.S. recognizes opposition chief Juan Guaido as the nation’s interim president.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Wayne in Washington at awayne3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Joshua Gallu

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