The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has removed restrictions on Italian owner PB Tankers and unblocked previously sanctioned vessels involved in in relation to oil trade with Venezuela.
In April, OFAC identified six vessels of PB Tankers as blocked property which led to PB Tankers terminating its charter agreement with Cubametales, which had chartered the company’s tanker Silver Point to transport oil between Venezuela and Cuba.
Two months after being placed on the US sanctions list, the company had to file for court protection in Italy.
“Treasury recognizes the actions that PB Tankers has taken to ensure that its vessels are not complicit in propping up the illegitimate former Maduro regime in Venezuela. As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property, which had been blocked as a result of PB Tankers’ designation, are unblocked, and all otherwise lawful transactions involving U.S. persons and PB Tankers are no longer prohibited,” the department said in a release, adding that its decision to remove restrictions on PB Tankers is a reminder that positive changes in behaviour can result in the lifting of sanctions.
