The tanker for Venezuelan oil does not give up: The US Coast Guard is waiting for help

For the sixth day, the Bella 1 supertanker continues to move away from the US Coast Guard near Venezuela. The sanctioned vessel refuses to stop and take on board the US military. At the same time, the US Coast Guard lacks specialized teams and is waiting for help to capture Bella 1. Washington has ordered the Pentagon to ensure a complete blockade of oil exports from Venezuela.

"The White House has ordered US military forces to focus almost exclusively on ensuring the 'quarantine' of Venezuelan oil for at least the next two months," a US official told Reuters. According to him, Washington is more interested in using economic rather than military means to exert pressure on Caracas.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced the oil blockade of Venezuela and plans to seize all sanctioned tankers. Legally, only the US Coast Guard can do this, but it does not have enough specialized teams and after the detention of two tankers, the third does not add up.

On Sunday, the Coast Guard tried to stop the supertanker Bella 1, which was going to Venezuela, but he refused to stop and the helicopter with the representatives of the department flew away.

"The U.S. Coast Guard is awaiting the arrival of additional forces before possibly attempting to board and seize a Venezuelan—linked oil tanker," one U.S. official told Reuters.

According to him, the US Coast Guard has only two specialized response teams that can board when ships are seized.

"The multi—day chase underscores the discrepancy between the Trump administration's desire to seize oil tankers near Venezuela under sanctions and the limited resources of the department," Reuters noted.

Earlier, the Coast Guard seized two tankers, Skipper and Centuries, which carry 3.6 million barrels of oil, and one of them is already off the coast of the United States in The Gulf of Mexico.

A US official told the agency that Coast Guard personnel from the response team were too far from Bella 1 to conduct a capture operation.

"The number of teams trained for such operations is limited," said Corey Ranslem, CEO of the Dryad Global Maritime Security group.

The service has long claimed a lack of resources to effectively carry out a growing number of tasks, including search and rescue operations and drug seizures, Reuters added.

"Our Coast Guard is less combat-ready than at any time in the last 80 years since the end of World War II," Admiral Kevin Landey, who heads the US Coast Guard, said in June.