Coast Guard is pursuing another tanker helping Venezuela skirt sanctions, US official says

currently.att.yahoo.com - Coast guard pursuing another tanker

Remember this bit from the Politico piece?

Romero said that Wright encouraged the companies “to get to an understanding and solve their outstanding problems along the way,” but made clear the Trump administration would like to see more Venezuelan crude flowing to U.S. refineries.

politico.com - Trump oil venezuela return

Figured it out, why the US regime wants big oil buying Venezuelan crude. Right now, the US imports about 4M bpd of heavy from Canada. Ramp up Venezuelan production to it's historic high of the late 90s, at about 3M bpd, and his nibs builds a tariff wall at the 49th parallel, so that US oil companies run away from Canadian crude, and embrace Venezuelan. Because Canada lacks the means to move that oil to a port, the Canadian crude is effectively taken off the market, tightening supply and raising prices. The US companies profit from the elevated prices, while they are paying a pittance for Venezuelan crude. It also punishes Canada for not surrendering to his nibs, when he first demanded it.

Steve