The United States is pressing shippers, insurers, certification organizations, and flag states registering vessels not to work with Venezuela as the Trump Administration is looking to cut off Nicolas Maduro’s regime from international oil trade, Elliott Abrams, the U.S. Administration’s special representative for Venezuela, told Reuters in an interview. “What you will see is most shipowners and insurance and captains are simply going to turn away from Venezuela,” Abrams told Reuters as the United States continues to step up the sanctions pressure on Venezuela and anyone dealing with Maduro. Under the increased pressure from the United States, the companies classifying ships are asked to check if vessels have participated in shipments to Venezuela. If a certification or classification is withdrawn, the tanker and the oil it carries become uninsured. At the beginning of June, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated four companies for operating in the oil sector […]