US forces have seized or pursued three tankers attempting to transport sanctioned Venezuelan oil in past weeks. Photo / Supplied
At least 16 sanctioned oil tankers have fled Venezuela in an effort to evade a United States Navy blockade of the country.
The ships, most of which were loaded with Venezuelan crude and fuel, departed the country’s waters in “dark mode” and were spoofing their locations, making it appear as though they are thousands of kilometres away.
The deceptive tactics appear to be part of a co-ordinated attempt to bypass American naval forces in the region and could open the door for US military action at sea.
The ships, which had been in or near Venezuelan ports in recent weeks, had all left by Sunday in the wake of President Nicholas Maduro’s capture by US forces, according to satellite images and ship-tracking data.
US President Donald Trump insisted that an oil embargo on Venezuela was in “full force”, yet the tankers still took the risky decision to leave port.
About a dozen were carrying an estimated 12 million barrels of Venezuelan crude and fuel oil, while the rest left empty, according to the monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.
Fifteen out of the 16 identified departed vessels are under US sanctions for carrying Iranian and Russian oil.
The tankers had been faced with a choice: flee or risk being boarded by US forces, a tactic used by the Trump Administration in December.
At least four of the departed tankers have been tracked by satellite data as they sailed around 50km from shore. The other 12 have not been located and are operating in dark mode.
The ships are using a range of evasion strategies, including disguising their true locations and turning off their transmission signals.
The Aquila II spoofed its co-ordinates to appear to be in the Baltic Sea and sent signals wrongly identifying itself as the Cape Balder.
The Bertha, using the alias Ekta, the name of a decommissioned vessel that was also painted on its hull, pretended to be off the coast of Nigeria.
The Bertha using the alias Ekta, the name of a decommissioned vessel which is also painted on its hull
The Veronica III, using the fake name DS Vector, is also sending a “zombie” signal to appear close to the west African country.
After departing from Venezuela’s main oil terminal, Puerto Jose on its northern coast, the crude carriers – believed to be laden with oil – are heading north-east.
Another ship, Vesna, under the assumed name of Priya, is already hundreds of kilometres away from Venezuela, moving faster as it does not appear to be carrying oil. As of Monday it was located near Grenada.
Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, called the blockade one of the largest “quarantines” in modern history that was successfully “paralysing” the Venezuelan regime’s ability to generate revenue.
Trump had made sweeping but vague claims that the US would temporarily “run” the country following its capture of Maduro, prompting fears of prolonged foreign intervention. However, Rubio said Washington would not be involved beyond enforcing an “oil quarantine”.
The exit of the tankers was likely an attempt to overwhelm the blockade.
Three were seen moving closely together, indicating some co-ordination. It was unclear where the vessels were heading.
When they loaded in December, the cargoes were mostly destined for Asia. The vessels had been stuck in Venezuelan waters since due to the blockade.
The ships that left without authorisation were contracted by the oil traders Alex Saab and Ramón Carretero, the New York Times reported.
Both are under US sanctions for being close associates of Maduro’s regime. Saab was jailed in the US in 2021 but was released in an exchange deal two years later under the Biden administration.
“Our anticipation from the start of the blockade was that it would be broken by overwhelming it with an outbound flotilla heading in various directions from various terminals,” Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, said.
He told the Telegraph: “That appears to have been the case over the past 36 to 48 hours. If this were a navy versus navy blockade, there would have been an exchange of fire, but these tankers are laden with oil.”
Madani said it was likely to have been considered worth the risk for the tankers to flee, even if some were intercepted.
Venezuela, which has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, was running out of time to move its oil as its storage facilities were near capacity. The US blockade, declared last month, had dragged the country’s oil exports to a standstill.
US forces have seized or pursued three tankers attempting to transport sanctioned Venezuelan oil in past weeks.
On December 10, US troops descended on the Skipper in a helicopter-led assault, while it was on its way to China.
A second, the Centuries, was boarded but not seized on December 20, while Bella 1 is still being pursued by US forces.
Oil exports are Venezuela’s main source of revenue. China is the biggest buyer of Venezuelan crude, which accounts for roughly 4% of its imports, an average of 600,000 barrels per day.
An interim government now led by Delcy Rodriguez, the oil minister and vice-president, will be desperately in need of the income to finance spending and secure domestic stability in the country.
At least four supertankers had been cleared by Venezuelan authorities in recent days to leave Venezuelan waters in dark mode, a source with knowledge of the departures’ paperwork told Reuters.
However, it is unclear whether that move is in direct defiance of US measures, given that Trump said at the weekend that Venezuela’s largest customers, including China, would keep receiving oil.
If it is a direct violation, it could be seen as an early act by Rodriguez’s transitional government, which is packed with Maduro loyalists, to oppose orders by the Trump Administration.
The tankers’ movement in the past two days “indicates a co-ordinated attempt to evade the blockade … that high-level figures in the regime were likely involved in”, Tiziano Breda, senior analyst for Latin America for conflict monitor Acled, told the Telegraph.
“But in the context of the chaos of transition, it is unclear whether some figures are taking advantage or it is a more organic decision from the new leadership to actively defy Mr Trump,” Breda added.
Chevron, the only US oil major authorised to export Venezuelan crude under the embargo and sanctions, resumed exports today after a four-day pause, shipping data showed.
No Chevron tankers had sailed since January 1, two days before the US strike on Venezuela.
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