WASHINGTON

The US Treasury Department on Wednesday announced new sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector, stepping up pressure on the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned four companies for operating in Venezuela’s oil sector and identified four associated oil tankers as blocked property.

According to a Treasury statement, the vessels continue to provide financial resources that support what the department described as Maduro’s “illegitimate narco-terrorist regime.”

It said the Maduro government "increasingly depends on a shadow fleet" of worldwide vessels to facilitate sanctionable activity.

“President Trump has been clear: We will not allow the illegitimate Maduro regime to profit from exporting oil while it floods the United States with deadly drugs,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The department will continue to implement Trump’s campaign of pressure on Maduro, he added.