More than 30 tankers could be within the reach of US naval forces positioned near Venezuela if Washington decides to continue seizing ships on its sanctions list.
"There are 37 undeparted OFAC-designated tankers currently in Venezuela," Samir Madani, chief executive of independent vessel tracking service Tanker Trackers, told Argus — referring to the Treasury Department's sanctions enforcement arm, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). "Maybe one or two departed recently, but that's the ballpark for now, at least."
The tanker the US seized on 10 December, the Skipper, was falsely carrying the Guyana flag, Guyana's maritime agency Marad said. The vessel was flying the Panama flag up until 2023, according to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) database. The tanker was transmitting falsified AIS positions to conceal its location, according to Kpler. Tanker Trackers estimated it to be laden with around 1.85mn barrels of Merey-16 crude oil.
It had sailed as Adisa starting in 2021 before being renamed the Skipper. The US sanctioned the tanker in 2022 for its alleged involvement in an international oil smuggling network that blended and exported Iranian oil in support of Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Former names for Skipper include the Toyo, the name it adopted in 2005, and Maera, the name it changed to in 2019, according to the IMO registry.
Overall shipping operations in the Caribbean region seem fairly normal and freight rates in the region are steady, according to shipbrokers. Chevron resumed imports of Venezuelan crude to the US in August following the reinstatement of its sanctions waiver.
More sanctions
Separately, the US Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions on six tankers — White Crane, Kiara M, H Constance, Lattafa, Tamia and Monique — and six shipping companies it said transported Venezuelan crude in recent months. Treasury last targeted specifically Venezuela-linked tankers in January 2021.
The White House said more tankers could be seized. "We're not going to stand by and watch sanctioned vessels sail the seas with black market oil, the proceeds of which will fuel narcoterrorism of rogue and illegitimate regimes around the world," it said.
Fewer tankers
The number of irregular tankers off the coast of Venezuela already declined in November for the first time since one non-governmental organization began measuring them in July.
Tankers identified as likely to be moving sanctioned crude or other products from Venezuela dropped to 17 in November, from 24 in October, the Venezuelan chapter in exile of Transparency International said on Thursday. The figures are based on a narrower set of criteria than the Tanker Trackers figures. The group estimated there were about 12 that arrived in July.
But about 41pc of traffic at Venezuela oil port still includes sanctioned or otherwise suspect vessels, the group estimated.
The presence of all types of oil tankers offshore of Venezuela also declined slightly in November, to 98 from 112 in October.
