U.S. Seizes Oil Tanker Off Venezuelan Coast

Yves here. So far, information about the US piracy in capturing an oil tanker off Venezuela is limited, but this action does make the buildup of naval assets in the area make a bit more sense. CBS provided information on the operation and the legal pretexts:

The operation to seize the tanker began Wednesday morning, after the boat had just left port in Venezuela, according to a senior military official and a source familiar with the operation.

The mission was launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford, an aircraft carrier that has been in the area for weeks as part of a broader buildup of U.S. forces in the region, the sources told CBS News.

It involved two helicopters, special operations forces, 10 members of the U.S. Coast Guard and 10 Marines, the sources said. The boarding team was composed of the Coast Guard’s Maritime Security and Response Team, an elite maritime interdiction unit based in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Attorney General Pam Bondi posted a 45-second video of the operation on X, showing armed personnel descending onto the vessel’s deck from a helicopter. She said the U.S. executed a seizure warrant on the vessel, and that the tanker was “used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.”

While the U.S. government — particularly the Justice Department and Homeland Security Investigations — has seized sanctioned oil tankers before, conducting a fast-rope boarding from helicopters at sea is rare, though it’s something the boarding team trains for, U.S. officials said.

The operation was led by the Coast Guard, supported by Navy forces, the officials told CBS News. Any such operation would legally require the Coast Guard to be the lead agency because the authorities used for these seizures fall under Coast Guard jurisdiction.

The Skipper was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2022 for its alleged role in an oil smuggling network that helped fund the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group backed by Iran.

The ship — known as Adisa in 2022 — is among the vessels controlled by sanctioned Russian oil magnate Viktor Artemov, the Treasury said in a statement. At the time, the Treasury said Artemov transported Iranian oil using an expansive network of ships that were often registered in obscure ways with the intention of skirting U.S. restrictions on Iranian petroleum exports.

The Treasury’s 2022 sanctions announcement didn’t mention Venezuela. But oil networks involving both Iran and Venezuela have been reported for years, drawing pushback from the United States. The two countries are major petroleum producers with some of the world’s largest oil reserves, but trade is restricted by heavy U.S. sanctions.

The tanker is controlled by Nigeria-based management company Thomarose Global Ventures LTD and owned by a firm linked to Artemov, according to publicly available data.

Cuba was also a target of this operation:

Trump proudly announces an act of piracy, with the US theft of an oil tanker from Venezuela bound for Cuba

This act of financial terrorism was aimed at starving Cuba of energy, worsening its blackout crisis and tormenting its populationpic.twitter.com/5vo65vD59b

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) December 10, 2025

Reuters points out Over 30 sanctioned ships in Venezuela at risk after US tanker seizure:

More than 30 U.S.-sanctioned oil vessels doing business in Venezuela could face punishment by Washington after the Coast Guard seized a supertanker carrying Venezuelan crude for export, according to shipping data….

The targeting of Venezuela-origin cargoes is expected to create short-term export delays and could scare some vessel owners away, experts and analysts say. Washington had not previously interrupted Venezuela’s oil exports, which are carried by intermediaries in third-party vessels….

Previous sanctions on Venezuela-related vessels or oil flows have left a swirl of loaded tankers waiting for weeks and even months to depart to avoid conflicts. On Wednesday, more than 80 vessels loaded or waiting to load oil were in Venezuelan waters or near its coast, including more than 30 under U.S. sanctions, according to data compiled by TankerTrackers.com.

The global shadow fleet includes 1,423 tankers, of which 921 are subject to U.S., British or European sanctions, according to analysis from maritime data specialist Lloyd’s List Intelligence. They are typically old, their ownership opaque and they sail without top-tier insurance cover to meet international standards for oil majors and many ports.

Alexander Mercouris has repeatedly taken issue with the “shadow fleet” designation. He has said that all it signifies is that the vessels are not insured in the London market, and that there is no evidence that the insurance they do obtain is subpar. The term also incorrectly deems them to be a “fleet” as in subject to higher level operation or coordination, which is not the case.

Anadolu Agency reports that Trump is also threatening Colombian president Gustavo Petro:

President Donald Trump threatened his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro on Wednesday, telling him that “he’s going to be next” as the US leader seeks the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

“He’s been fairly hostile to the United States. I haven’t given a lot of thought. He’s gonna have himself some big problems if he doesn’t wise up. Colombia is producing a lot of drugs,” Trump said in response to a question on whether he plans to speak with Petro.

“They have cocaine factories that they make cocaine, as you know, and they sell it right into the United States. So he better wise up, or he’ll be next. He’ll be next soon. I hope he’s listening. He’s going to be next,” he added…

Wednesday’s comments mark the most explicit call from Trump for Petro to face US action unless he takes unspecified steps on Trump’s allegations.

So much for the self-styled president of peace.

By Josh Owens, Content Director at Oilprice.com who has written and curated energy and geopolitical content for oilprice.com for the last 10 years. Originally published at OilPrice

U.S. forces, including the Coast Guard, Homeland Security, and FBI, seized the Panama-flagged tanker “Skipper” off Venezuela under a federal warrant tied to sanctions violations.
Venezuela denounced the action as “international piracy,” accusing Washington of trying to “plunder” its energy resources.
The move, part of a wider U.S. campaign against illicit oil trade, drove oil prices higher on fears of further disruptions to Venezuelan crude flows.

The United States has seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, marking a major escalation in tensions between Washington and Caracas and pushing oil prices higher. President Trump confirmed the operation, saying, “We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever seized actually”. He then went on to warn “other things are happening so you’ll be seeing that later.”

U.S. authorities, including the Coast Guard, FBI, and Homeland Security, executed a seizure warrant, boarding the tanker by helicopter. The vessel, identified by maritime sources as the Panama-flagged “Skipper” (formerly named “Adisa”), had been under U.S. sanctions for several years for its alleged role in transporting Venezuelan and Iranian crude via a shadow oil-shipping network tied to foreign terrorist groups.

According to tracking data, the tanker had recently loaded heavy crude at Venezuela’s Puerto José. U.S. officials say the seizure is part of an intensified campaign of maritime interdiction by Washington, a strategy that appears to be expanding the use of naval power beyond sanctions, with the objective of targeting illicit oil trade and networks tied to sanctioned regimes.

In Caracas, the government of President Nicolás Maduro condemned the seizure, branding it “a blatant theft” and an act of “international piracy.” The Venezuelan statement argued that the move was part of a “deliberate plan to plunder our energy resources,” and vowed to defend the country’s sovereignty, natural resources, and national dignity, while calling on international bodies to denounce the U.S. action.

The move comes on the back of the U.S. releasing its latest national security strategy, which, among other things, emphasizes a strong U.S. influence in Latin America. President Trump’s focus on Venezuela has included blowing up alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea, raising questions over the legality of those strikes.

Markets reacted promptly, with oil prices rising on the prospect of a major disruption to Venezuelan crude flows, particularly heavy sour grades that feed refiners. At the time of writing, Brent futures were trading 0.44% higher at $62.21 while West Texas Intermediate futures were up 0.58% at $62.21.

Markets will be watching closely to see if Trump’s claim that “other things are happening” proves to be yet another escalation.