US federal prosecutors are asking a federal court to approve the sale of a tanker seized near the coast of Venezuela in December and the 1.8mn bl cargo of Venezuelan crude it was carrying at the time.
The US Coast Guard seized the Skipper on 10 December, as the first step in an operation that eventually resulted in the ouster of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and the US takeover of Venezuelan oil exports. US naval vessels have seized nine other Venezuelan crude-laden tankers since then. The cargo aboard the Skipper is the first to face formal action in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The US justifies the seizure of the tanker by its association with Iranian oil trade since 2023, even though it was last transporting Venezuelan crude meant to be delivered first to Cuba and then to a destination off the coast of Malaysia. Tankers carrying Venezuelan and Iranian crude frequently use international waters near Malaysia for ship-to-ship transfers to facilitate deliveries to independent refiners in China.
The Skipper is currently anchored off the Texas coast, according to the Department of Justice and ship tracking services.
The Justice Department emphasized the Iran connection in the court action it is requesting. "This forfeiture complaint for the M/T Skipper and its oil cargo demonstrates the FBI's unwavering commitment to enforcing US sanctions and thwarting hostile regimes who exploit the global oil trade," FBI director Kash Patel said.
US courts in recent years approved the sale of Iranian cargoes aboard tankers seized by the US Navy, but the US authorities typically released those tankers to their ultimate owners. The federal court will set a precedent if it approves the sale of the tanker as well.
US courts have approved warrants to seize the Skipper and the other nine tankers carrying Venezuelan crude, but it is not clear if the US will ask the courts to sell all of them. The US has been returning tankers seized since Maduro's ouster to ports in Venezuela, US secretary of state Marco Rubio told a Senate panel last month.
