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The U.S. Navy seized the largest oil tanker off Venezuela to pressure Maduro’s regime, escalating regional tensions and impacting oil futures, officials said.
- On December 10, 2025, President Donald Trump said US forces seized the Skipper, a 332-metre tanker, off the coast of Venezuela after deploying by helicopter to assert control.
- Amid a naval buildup near Venezuela, the U.S. Treasury recently sanctioned six tankers and four Venezuelan nationals while the USS Gerald Ford was positioned nearby last month to increase pressure on President Nicolás Maduro.
- PDVSA records show the Skipper departed Venezuelan waters with close to 2 million barrels of heavy crude; maritime data revealed AIS manipulation and satellites placed it near Venezuela shortly before the US Navy intervened.
- A trading company halted at least three fully loaded vessels, delaying nearly 6 million barrels of Merey crude for Asian buyers, while the US expects the Skipper to face legal cargo confiscation and oil prices dipped about two per cent shortly after.
- The seizure signals a stronger deterrent as operators, insurers and charterers face military boarding; US agencies began preparing more intercepts tied to Trump’s push to pressure Maduro, who denounced the move while Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado backed it.
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What the dramatic US seizure of Venezuela-linked oil tanker tells us
The Skipper — a 332-metre tanker previously sanctioned as the M/T Adisa — was carrying nearly 2 million barrels of Venezuelan crude, including oil for Cuba, when US forces boarded it on December 10. The tanker had falsified its AIS data, falsely used Guyana’s flag, and was part of a shadow fleet moving sanctioned crude for Venezuela, Iran, and Russia
Richmond Times-Dispatch
US forces seize tanker off coast of Venezuela
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Wednesday the United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela as tensions mount with the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
Nicolás Maduro spoke on Thursday about the oil ship that was confiscated by the US military authorities, which maintain a deployment in the Caribbean Sea and near the Venezuelan coasts. Maduro led an activity from the Pinto Salinas sector, in the city of Caracas. During his speech, he confirmed the seizure of an oil vessel, but clarified that it did not happen on the Venezuelan coasts. “It was almost higher, much further north of Trinidad and To…
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