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From Iran to China to Venezuela - How Seized Tanker Hid Location
The Skipper tanker concealed its location and used ship-to-ship transfers to move over 1.1 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan and Iranian crude, analysts said.
- On Wednesday evening, U.S. forces seized the oil tanker Skipper in a helicopter-launched raid off Venezuela, with the ship's tracking reappearing on 10 December.
- Kpler analysts said the tanker concealed its position while loading at Kharg Island, Iran, taking on at least 1.1 million barrels of Merey crude by 16 November, listing Cuba as destination.
- Last month, satellite images showed the Skipper at Port of Jose on 18 November, with transfers between 11 and 13 August and on 7 December, amid AIS spoofing, said Ampatzidis.
- The U.S. Treasury Department first sanctioned the ship in 2022 as Adisa, calling it part of an "international oil smuggling network," and Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, described it as a "crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran."
- Andrew Lipow said the seizure aims to deter buyers, as `With oil prices hovering below $60 per barrel, it would appear the administration is not too worried about losing Venezuelan oil supplies to the market; there is plenty of oil around,` Lipow said, while China would be unhappy losing discounted oil.
Insights by Ground AI
34 Articles
34 Articles
The ship used false AIS signals and offshore transfers to allegedly conceal cargos of sanctioned crude oil
Coverage Details
Total News Sources34
Leaning Left4Leaning Right3Center8Last UpdatedBias Distribution53% Center
Bias Distribution
- 53% of the sources are Center
53% Center
L 27%
C 53%
R 20%
Factuality
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