“We just seized an oil tanker off Venezuela — a big tanker, a very big tanker, in fact the largest ever,” President Donald Trump said on December 10 before starting a roundtable meeting at the White House.
When asked what would happen to the oil on board, Trump replied, “We’re going to keep it, I guess.” He asserted that the tanker “was seized for a very legitimate reason.”
US Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that the vessel was part of an “illegal oil transport network” used to ship sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. A video she shared shows US troops rappelling from a helicopter onto the deck of the tanker and moving into the control room with rifles raised.
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The US government did not disclose the tanker’s name. However, UK-based maritime risk firm Vanguard said the vessel is named Skipper, which had been sanctioned by the US for allegedly engaging in Iranian oil trading under its previous name Adisa. According to satellite data analyzed by TankerTrackers and internal shipping data from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, the Skipper left the country’s main oil port of Jose between December 4 and 5 after loading roughly 1.1 million barrels of crude oil.
In recent months, the Trump administration has intensified its pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, deploying the world’s largest fleet of warships and aircraft carriers to the region for counter-narcotics operations.
The US has carried out strikes on more than 20 boats allegedly carrying drugs in the area, resulting in at least 87 deaths. President Trump has also repeatedly raised the possibility of US military intervention in Venezuela. President Maduro, meanwhile, accuses the US of being determined to overthrow his government and seize control of Venezuela’s oil reserves.