Oil tankers leave Venezuela, bypassing US naval blockade
Kyiv • UNN
Tankers with Venezuelan oil and fuel have left the country's territorial waters, ignoring the US naval blockade. This happened after President Donald Trump imposed a blockade on all sanctioned tankers in December 2025.
About ten tankers with Venezuelan oil and fuel have left the country's territorial waters, ignoring the naval blockade imposed by the United States. This was reported by Reuters, citing data from the monitoring service TankerTrackers.com, writes UNN.
Details
Since the beginning of the year, the movement of at least 12 vessels under US sanctions has been recorded. According to shipping data, most of them are now on the high seas without official flags or up-to-date safety documentation. Half of the fleet consists of supertankers, which usually transport raw materials to China.
President Donald Trump imposed a blockade of all sanctioned tankers ("quarantine") in December 2025, and on Saturday confirmed that the oil embargo remains in effect even after the arrest of Nicolas Maduro by American special forces.
Washington's position
It is currently unknown whether these deliveries were agreed with the US administration. On Saturday, Trump noted that Venezuela's largest customers, including China, would continue to receive oil, but a US official clarified in a comment to Reuters that the quarantine is focused specifically on vessels on the sanctions list.
Experts note that such a "flight" of tankers could be an attempt by the state company PDVSA to unload overcrowded storage facilities amid a complete halt to legal exports. Currently, the only company with official permission from Washington to export oil remains the American Chevron.
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