Six tankers that had left Venezuela in 'dark mode' are back in its waters

By Marianna Parraga

Jan 10 (Reuters) - At least six oil tankers, most of them loaded, that had departed Venezuela in early January in 'dark mode' - or with their transponders off amid a strict U.S. blockade - are now back in the South American country's waters, according to state company PDVSA and monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.

A flotilla of about a dozen loaded vessels and at least three other empty ships left Venezuelan waters last month in apparent defiance of an embargo imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump since mid-December, which has dragged down the country's oil exports to minimum.

One of the ships, the Panama-flagged supertanker M Sophia, was intercepted and seized by U.S. forces this week when returning to Venezuela and sent to U.S. waters; while another, the Aframax tanker Olina with a flag from Sao Tome and Principe, was intercepted but released to Venezuela on Friday, state company PDVSA said.

Five more of the vessels that had departed in that flotilla, Panama-flagged Merope, Cook Islands-flagged Min Hang, Panama-flagged Thalia III, Guyana-flagged Vesna and Palau-flagged Nayara, were spotted by Tankertrackers.com in Venezuelan waters between Friday and Saturday through satellite images.

U.S. authorities had said on Friday that Olina - previously known as Minerva M - would be freed.

The next step for the country, which remains under strict U.S. supervision after it captured and extracted President Nicolas Maduro last week, would be the beginning of organized crude exports as part of a $2 billion oil supply deal Caracas and Washington are negotiating, they said.

In a meeting with top oil company executives on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump said arrangements for the supply had progressed. Global trading houses Vitol and Trafigura received this week the first U.S. licenses to negotiate and carry Venezuela's crude exports, and to provide naphtha to the OPEC country, sources said.

The first naphtha cargo from the deal, to be supplied by Vitol, is expected to arrive in Venezuela next week, sources said on Saturday.