US Seeks Ownership Of Oil Tanker And 1.8 Million Barrels Of Venezuelan Crude

The U.S. is seeking to take ownership of Motor Tanker Skipper, an oil tanker it seized in December, and 1.8 million barrels of crude oil cargo supplied by Venezuelan state-run company PDVSA, the Justice Department said on Friday.

In its complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the department alleged there was a scheme dating to 2021 to facilitate the shipment and sale of petroleum products to benefit Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is under U.S. sanctions.

It said the Skipper moved crude oil from Iran and Venezuela during this time. A confidential informant told the U.S. government that the tanker has loaded seven million barrels of crude oil originating in Iran over the past two years, according to the complaint.

“The Skipper disguised its illicit activities by spoofing its locations, flying false flags and employing other tactics to obfuscate its routes and conceal its sanctions evasion,” the department said.

The U.S. is seeking forfeiture of the tanker, a legal process in which the government permanently seizes a vessel and its cargo without compensation due to violations such as sanctions or smuggling.

U.S. forces have intercepted 10 tankers since December and released at least two of them to the interim Venezuelan government, according to Reuters analysis.

In the latest interception, U.S. military forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from Caribbean waters, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, adding that it was the third such interdiction in that region.

The U.S. seized the Skipper supertanker near Venezuela in December as part of a pressure strategy against the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro, who was captured in a U.S. military operation on January 3. The Skipper at the time was flying the flag of Guyana, but the U.S. complaint alleges it was not legitimately flagged to the South American country.

Crew members told U.S. authorities after the seizure that the supertanker was initially bound for Cuba, but personnel were later told to immediately reroute to an unspecified country in Asia, according to the complaint.

Trump officials have been pressing the interim government in Caracas to allow U.S. firms access to oil and to instigate reforms since the U.S. military launched the attack on Venezuela.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, the era of secretly bankrolling regimes that pose clear threats to the United States is over,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the statement.

“This Department of Justice will deploy every legal authority at our disposal to completely dismantle and permanently shutter any operation that defies our laws and fuels chaos across the globe.”