The Palestinian-led BDS movement calls for immediate action to ensure that:
- Venezuelan oil will not reach Israel.
- The tanker Poliegos (IMO 9746621), transporting the oil and showing as next port of call in Sardinia, Italy, is not serviced or allowed to dock.
If Venezuelans were in control over their oil, this oil shipment would, as it should have, gone to Cuba to overcome the criminal US sanctions.
Under the US-imposed export scheme, the oil was reportedly loaded at Venezuela’s Jose terminal, and is scheduled to arrive in the port of Sarroch, Sardinia, on 17 February.
Media reports state that the vessel, Poliegos, is carrying one million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil:
- 200,000 barrels are reportedly destined for the refinery in Haifa, owned by Israeli crude oil company Bazan.
- 800,000 barrels will go to the Saras refinery in Sarroch, owned by Swiss-based trading company Vitol.
In Gaza, the genocidal US-Israel axis has buried the international legal system. With its illegal military attack on Venezuela on January 3, the US has expanded this “Might Makes Right” rule to Latin America.
The explicit aims are:
- Full control and plunder of Venezuela’s massive natural resources.
- Cutting Cuba off from its main energy supplier, while prohibiting others from stepping in, in order to exacerbate the criminal blockade on the island.
Now the circle closes: Venezuela’s oil is being rerouted to fuel Israel’s genocide.
Vitol’s complicity in US-Israeli crimes
Research by PICS and DisruptPower uncovered in 2025 that Vitol’s Saras refinery in Sarroch provided 17% of Israel’s imports of oil and refined products.
Following the US bombing of Venezuela’s capital Caracas and the kidnapping of its president and his wife, the US has imposed a scheme to plunder and control Venezuelan natural resources: the country can only sell its oil to two US vetted companies, which then take control of the resources.
The Swiss-based Dutch multinational energy trading company Vitol, which has sold the petroleum to Bazan and is the controlling shareholder of the Sarrach refinery, is one of them.
Prior to the US attack, the Venezuelan government had observed an energy embargo on Israel. It is now denying involvement in sales of oil to Israel, further highlighting the US role in quashing Venezuelan self-determination.
Norway’s Gard - Insuring genocide
Norway’s marine insurance company Gard provides the necessary insurance for the Poliegos and its criminal voyage.
Gard has also provided insurance cover for:
- the HC Opal, which in June 2025, carried at least 23 containers of military materiel, including explosives and rocket parts and fuses, destined for use by genocidal Israel.
- The MV Kathrin, which in 2024 carried military grade explosives to Israel’s military industries.
The BDS movement calls on trade unions, grassroots movements and wider civil society:
- In Sardinia, Italy, to stop the complicit vessel from docking and deny services to the vessel.
- Across the Mediterranean, to pressure governments to deny the vessel passage and docking rights and, where appropriate, to stop the delivery of the criminal cargo.
- In Norway, to pressure the insurance company Gard to withdraw the insurance of the vessel and prevent the delivery of the criminal military cargo.
- In Switzerland, to pressure Vitol to stop supplying genocidal Israel with the energy it needs to continue its atrocity against Palestinians and to end its complicity in imperialist and genocidal policies by the US-Israeli axis.
Under international law, states and corporations are obligated not to aid, assist, or profit from international crimes and to take decisive action to stop them.