More than 30 U.S.-sanctioned oil vessels doing business in Venezuela could face penalties from Washington after the Coast Guard seized a supertanker carrying Venezuelan crude for export, according to shipping data.
The seizure, announced by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, was the first of an oil cargo from Venezuela, which has been under US sanctions since 2019, and the first public action by the Trump administration against a Venezuelan tanker since he ordered a massive military build-up in the region.
The US action, which comes as Trump pressures the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, has put many vessel owners, operators and shipping agencies on alert, with many considering whether to sail through Venezuelan waters in the coming days, shipping sources said.
Read more: Trump says US seizes sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela
Experts and analysts say the targeting of Venezuelan origin cargo will cause short-term export delays and could scare off some vessel owners. Washington has not previously disrupted Venezuela’s oil exports, which are carried by middlemen on third-party vessels.
More than 80 tankers are waiting in or near Venezuela
Venezuela accused the US of “outright theft”, calling the seizure “an act of international piracy”.
The seized supertanker, identified by a risk management group as the skipper, is part of a “shadow fleet” of vessels that carry approved oil to its largest destination. They often turn off their signal or otherwise disguise their locations. Such tankers have increasingly been employed by traders and ships handling Venezuelan oil since Washington imposed sanctions on the OPEC nation.
Previous embargoes on ships or oil flows to Venezuela have left a glut of tankers waiting weeks and even months to avoid conflicts. As of Wednesday, more than 80 vessels were in Venezuelan waters or near its coast, according to data compiled by tankertrackers.com.
According to an analysis by maritime data specialist Lloyd’s List Intelligence, the global shadow fleet includes 1,423 tankers, of which 921 are subject to US, British or European sanctions. They are usually old, their ownership is obscure and they sail without the advanced insurance cover required by oil companies and many ports to meet international standards.
According to vessel monitoring data, vessels mostly carry oil approved from Russia, Iran and Venezuela to Asian destinations. Many have made separate voyages carrying Iranian or Venezuelan oil and then Russian cargo.
In Venezuela’s case, they load under fake names at ports run by state-run PDVSA, shipping and company data show. They usually disguise their locations after departure while crossing the Atlantic Ocean en route to Malaysia or China.
PDVSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An estimated 15 percent of very large crude carriers, which can carry a maximum of 200,000 barrels, have faced restrictions, according to estimates by Frontline, a leading oil shipping company based in Cyprus.
As for vessels controlled by Venezuela, the U.S. has in recent years added almost all of PDVSA’s fleet to its sanctioned list, along with a handful of tankers transporting Venezuelan oil to Cuba, which is also under U.S. sanctions.
Russia and China, both heavily sanctioned, have used similar tactics to circumvent these sanctions over the years.
In a sign of success for the dark fleet strategy, Venezuela’s oil exports rose to more than 900,000 barrels per day in November and imports of much-needed naphtha, mostly from Russia, doubled to 167,000 bpd to dilute its surplus of heavy oil, boosting stocks in the coming weeks.
Venezuela and Iran have also cooperated in the past to use their fleets.
PDVSA’s key joint venture partner, Chevron, which is responsible for all Venezuelan crude shipments to the US, said on Wednesday that the company was operating normally.
(Reporting by Mariana Perraga and Jonathan Saul Editing by Christian Plumb and William Millard)
