The US has sanctioned more PDVSA-connected tankers in further attempts to squeeze out Venezuela's ruling regime.

The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control added six ships connected to the South American country's state oil company after the tankers allegedly shipped 1.3 million barrels of oil to Cuba this autumn.

The sanctioned ships are the 99,438-dwt Icaro (built 1993), the 47,144-dwt Luisa Caceres de Arismendi (built 1996), the 47,144-dwt Manuela Saenz (built 1997), the 104,554-dwt Paramaconi (built 2011), the 104,736-dwt Terepaima (built 2011) and the 104,579-dwt Yare (built 2011).