3 days ago - In the first and most prominent such action to date, US forces boarded the Russian-flagged oil tanker Marinera in the Atlantic on 7 January. That ship, which was being shadowed by a Russian submarine, was pursued across the Atlantic from the Caribbean for more than two weeks. Britain’s Ministry of Defence confirmed it had assisted US forces in the operation to capture it. Trump announced last week an agreement with Venezuela’s interim leaders that he said would provide up to 50m barrels of crude oil to the US.

4 days ago - His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil. A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now · Left: Footage from a video released by U.S. Southern Command shows the Venezuela-linked tanker Veronica at sea, in this screen grab taken from a handout video released on Jan.

6 minutes ago - Johnson refuted suggestions Trump could take action in Greenland without the approval of Congress, as he did in Venezuela during an operation to capture its president Nicolas Maduro.

1 week ago - The other 12 tankers are not broadcasting any signals and have not been located in new imagery because they're operating in 'dark mode'. On December 16, US President Trump imposed a 'complete blockade' on sanctioned Venezuelan oil tankers, in a move Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said was one of the largest 'quarantines' in modern history.

December 10, 2025 - It's a video, not an article. ... At 6am today, US forces boarded the Skipper off Venezuela’s coast. 1.1 million barrels seized. Two helicopters. Twenty operators. Zero resistance. This is not about one tanker. The Skipper was sanctioned in 2022 for financing Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards through an illicit oil network run by Gulf businessman Viktor Artemov.

2 weeks ago - Since the U.S. imposed energy sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, traders and refiners buying Venezuelan oil have resorted to a "shadow fleet" of tankers that disguise their location, or to vessels already sanctioned for transporting Iranian or Russian oil.

2 days ago - Maduro said in October 2025 that the US wanted to seize Venezuela's oil and that the Bolivarian Army of Venezuela had been mobilized to repel a land invasion. The Russian tanker Seahorse, sanctioned by the European Union and the UK, attempting to deliver naphtha (a product necessary to help export Venezuela's heavy crude) to Venezuela was forced several times by USS Stockdale to turn back towards Cuba, although it eventually reached Venezuela in November 2025.

2 weeks ago - Trump announces Venezuela will give U.S. up to 50 million barrels of oil ... Russian propaganda TV channel RT shared what it said was exclusive footage from aboard the tanker Tuesday night. It did not say where or when the footage was shot. “Visibility is poor due to fog, and a U.S. Coast Guard ship is visible in the distance,” the caption accompanying the video read, adding that American reconnaissance aircraft were monitoring the vessel.

1 month ago - We started the day analysing the ... oil from Venezuela - which is now off the coast of Texas. We also asked legal experts to find out what might happen next to the tankers seized by the US. Alongside colleagues from across BBC News, we’re been working through the latest tranche of Epstein files released this morning. Among the items published by the US Department of Justice was a fake video claiming to ...

2 weeks ago - The seizure of the vessel marks a new flashpoint in Washington’s confrontation with Moscow over Venezuela’s sanctioned oil trade. The U.S. had been pursuing the vessel since December, when the Coast Guard attempted to board it off the Venezuelan coast. Tracking data showed that the tanker ...