A satellite image shows the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Skipper, which British maritime risk management group Vanguard said was believed to have been seized on December 10. (Photo: Reuters)
The US will seize the oil aboard a tanker that was captured near Venezuela this week, the White House said Thursday. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the oil tanker is tied to black-market oil activity and is currently undergoing a forfeiture process, which includes interviews with those on board and the seizure of relevant evidence.
Oil to be seized after legal process
“The vessel will go to a US port, and the United States does intend to seize the oil,” Leavitt said during her afternoon briefing. “However, there is a legal process for the seizure of that oil, and that legal process will be followed.”
This image from video posted on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s X account, and partially redacted by the source, shows an oil tanker being seized by U.S. forces off the coast of Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (U.S. Attorney General’s Office/X via AP)
She also said that the ship was a sanctioned shadow vessel associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran.
The ship, Skipper, is a very large crude carrier (VLCC) and was flying the Guyana Flag when it was captured. But the Guyanese government has clarified that the vessel was not registered in the country.
Until 2022, Skipper was sailing under another name, Adisa and it started using the new identity after being sanctioned by the US.
This image from video posted on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s X account, and partially redacted by the source, shows an oil tanker being seized by U.S. forces off the coast of Venezuela, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (U.S. Attorney General’s Office/X via AP)
Skipper left Venezuela’s main oil port of Jose between December 4 and 5 after loading some 1.8 million barrels of Venezuela’s Merey heavy crude.
It transferred about 200,000 barrels near Curacao to the Panama-flagged Neptune 6 bound for Cuba before the seizure, according to satellite information analysed by TankerTrackers.com and internal data from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.
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It also made multiple trips to Venezuela and Iran in recent years, according to Marine Traffic, which provides real-time tracking of ships.
US preparing for more ship seizures
Meanwhile, a Reuters report said that the US is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil.
The US has assembled a target list of several more sanctioned tankers for possible seizure, one of the people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The US Justice Department and Homeland Security had been planning the seizures for months, according to two of the people.
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Further direct interventions are expected in the coming weeks, targeting ships carrying Venezuelan oil that may also have transported oil from other countries targeted by US sanctions, such as Iran, according to the Reuters sources familiar with the matter.
Reuters, citing shipping industry sources, added that the US seizure has put shipowners, operators and maritime agencies involved in transporting Venezuelan crude on alert, with many reconsidering whether to sail from Venezuelan waters in the coming days as planned.
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A satellite image shows the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Skipper, which British maritime risk management group Vanguard said was believed to have been seized on December 10. (Photo: Reuters) 
