U.S. seizes tanker off Venezuela

President Donald Trump said on December 10, 2025, that the United States had seized a large oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast. Two days later, the Justice Department identified the ship as the M/T Skipper and said the U.S. Coast Guard boarded it on the high seas after it departed Venezuela. Federal prosecutors said the vessel had already been under U.S. sanctions and was being used in an oil shipping network tied to Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force. The case matters because the cargo was not a token shipment. The Justice Department said in a February 27, 2026 forfeiture filing that the Skipper carried about 1.8 million barrels of crude supplied by Petróleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company. AP has reported that oil remains Venezuela’s central source of hard-currency revenue, even after years of sanctions, underinvestment and production decline. (abcnews.com) ### Which ship did the United States actually take? The Justice Department named the vessel as the M/T Skipper, IMO number 9304667, and said it was formerly called the Adisa. Prosecutors said a magistrate judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia signed the seizure warrant on November 26, 2025, before the boarding on December 10. (justice.gov) ABC News reported that the tanker was a VLCC, or very large crude carrier. Two sources told ABC that ships in that class can carry up to about 2 million barrels of oil, which is broadly consistent with the 1.8 million-barrel figure later cited by the Justice Department in its forfeiture complaint. ### What legal case did Washington use to justify the seizure? (justice.gov) The Justice Department said the warrant was unsealed on December 12, 2025, and was authorized under federal forfeiture and terrorism statutes. Prosecutors said the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control had previously identified the Skipper as part of an oil shipping network supporting Hizballah and the IRGC-QF, both designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations or terrorist entities. (abcnews.com) Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in February that the government was seeking forfeiture of both the tanker and its cargo. FBI Director Kash Patel said the case showed the bureau would continue enforcing sanctions and targeting the financial networks used by U.S. adversaries. Those are the administration’s stated grounds; Venezuela has rejected similar U.S. actions as illegitimate in past disputes over oil shipments. (justice.gov) ### Why does one tanker matter to Venezuela? AP reported in January 2026 that Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves but produces far less than major exporters because of mismanagement, infrastructure decay and political risk. That leaves each export cargo more important to state finances than reserve figures alone would suggest. (justice.gov) The February forfeiture complaint tied this specific shipment directly to PdVSA. Because the cargo was state-company crude, any successful U.S. forfeiture would hit a revenue stream tied to the Venezuelan government rather than a private intermediary alone. ### Was this a one-off boarding or part of a broader campaign? (apnews.com) The U.S. Coast Guard’s own releases indicate the Skipper seizure was not the last such operation. A Coast Guard statement in February 2026 said the cutter Mohawk had escorted two sanctioned oil tankers during a 60-day patrol under Operation Southern Spear, an interagency effort to counter illicit maritime oil trade. (justice.gov) A separate Coast Guard release said the tanker Bella 1 was seized after it violated U.S. sanctions and resisted initial boarding attempts off coastal Venezuela in late December 2025. Those statements suggest the December 10 Skipper action became part of a wider maritime enforcement push rather than a single isolated interception. (news.uscg.mil) ### What happens next in the tanker case? The next concrete step is in federal court. The Justice Department said on February 27, 2026 that it had filed a civil forfeiture complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking ownership of the Skipper and its 1.8 million-barrel cargo. Until that case is resolved, the legal status of the vessel and oil will turn on proceedings in Washington, not on Trump’s initial remarks at the White House. (news.uscg.mil) (justice.gov)