U.S. forces seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced.
The news marks a significant escalation in U.S. pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
“We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, a large tanker, very large, the largest one ever seized actually,” Trump said during a White House meeting in the Roosevelt Room.
Highlights
- U.S. forces seized the Skipper off the coast of Venezuela, loaded with over 1 million barrels of oil, amid sanctions.
- The tanker was sanctioned for years due to involvement in smuggling oil supporting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah.
- The operation follows increased U.S. military actions in the Caribbean targeting vessels linked to drug trafficking and sanctions evasion.
U.S. forces seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday
Image credits: TankerTrackers/X
He did not disclose the owner or destination of the vessel but said the seizure was “for a very good reason.”
The tanker has been identified as the Skipper, a Guyana-flagged “Very Large Crude Carrier” (VLCC) loaded with 1.1 million barrels of oil in mid-November, according to Matt Smith, head U.S. analyst at energy consulting firm Kpler.
The vessel appeared to be headed for Cuba but remained offshore Venezuela after leaving port, Smith told CNBC.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the seizure was executed under a warrant by the FBI and the U.S. Coast Guard, with support from the Pentagon. Bondi shared drone footage showing soldiers boarding the vessel from a helicopter.
“For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations,” Bondi wrote on X.
Bondi said the operation was conducted “safely and securely” and that the investigation continues to prevent the transport of sanctioned oil.
The tanker had transported oil from both Venezuela and Iran. Guyana’s maritime authority said the Skipper was falsely flying its flag.
The Skipper loaded some 1.8 million barrels of Venezuela’s Merey heavy crude before leaving the country’s main oil port between December 4 and 5.
Image credits: trbrtc/X
Then, it transferred about 200,000 barrels near Curaçao to the Panama-flagged Neptune 6 bound for Cuba, satellite information analyzed by TankerTrackers.com and internal data from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA show.
The Trump administration’s actions followed weeks of heightened rhetoric against Maduro. The American president told Politico on Tuesday that Maduro’s “days are numbered” and did not rule out a ground invasion of Venezuela.
The White House has also increased its military presence in the Caribbean and carried out strikes on boats allegedly involved in drug trafficking. American forces hit at least 23 vessels in 22 separate strikes in international waters of the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific between September 2 and December 4.
Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves
Despite the U.S.’ increased pressure on Maduro, Trump’s administration had not previously moved to interfere with oil flows.
Venezuela is a founding member of OPEC and has the world’s largest proven oil reserves. The country has been exporting about 749,000 barrels per day this year, with roughly half going to China.
U.S. imports of Venezuelan crude stand at approximately 132,000 barrels per day, data from Kpler shows.
The operation to seize the Skipper began at about 6 a.m. on Wednesday, after the boat had just left port in Venezuela. It involved two helicopters, special operations forces, the U.S. Coast Guard, and Marines. The boarding team was composed of the Coast Guard’s Maritime Security and Response Team, CBS News noted.
Image credits: AGPamBondi/X
Iran’s embassy in Caracas condemned the seizure as a “grave violation of international laws and norms.”
The Venezuelan government also released a statement where it called the action an “act of international piracy” and said it “strongly denounces and repudiates what constitutes a shameless robbery.”
Maduro on Wednesday spoke at a march, but did not address news of the seizure.
The Skipper was originally built in 2005 and was among the largest tankers in the world at that point. The U.S. Treasury sanctioned it in 2022 for its alleged involvement in an oil smuggling network that helped fund the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Lebanese militant group, Hezbollah.
Image credits: Jesus Vargas/Getty Images
The seizure comes amid broader scrutiny of U.S. military operations in the Caribbean. Earlier this month, allegations against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth regarding war crimes during an airstrike on a suspected drug vessel prompted a bipartisan Senate investigation.
The Washington Post reported that Hegseth issued an order to “kill everybody” aboard a suspected narcotics vessel. According to officials cited by the paper, a first missile strike left two survivors in the water. A Special Operations commander then ordered a second strike to comply with Hegseth’s directive.
The two men “were blown apart in the water,” the report said.
Venezuela’s foreign ministry previously accused Trump of making a “colonialist threat” and called Trump’s comments “another extravagant, illegal and unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people.”