From Iran to China to Venezuela

Ship tracking data shows the tanker seized by U.S. forces on Wednesday had records of falsifying or hiding information about its location in an apparent effort to hide its activities.

The United States confirmed on Wednesday night that its forces had seized a ship in a helicopter attack off the coast of Venezuela. BBC verify confirmed that the ship was captained by matching markings seen in the US-released video with reference photos provided by TankerTrackers.com, a website that monitors oil shipments.

Data held by public tracking sites paint an incomplete picture of the ship’s movements, which had not announced its position since November 7 before being seized. Maritime analytics firm Kpler also said the ship had undergone ship-to-ship transfers.

U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi Describing the vessel as a “crude oil tanker” used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.”

The U.S. Treasury Department first sanctioned the ship in 2022, when it sailed under the name Adisa and was accused of being part of an “international oil smuggling network.”

The Skipper had sailed under the Guyanese flag, but the government quickly issued a statement saying the 20-year-old tanker “erroneously flew the Guyanese flag because it was not registered in Guyana.”

Experts told BBC Verify the captain was likely part of the so-called “Dark Fleet”, a global network of tankers aiming to evade oil sanctions by masking their ownership, identity and travel history.

Under a United Nations treaty, all ships over a certain tonnage must be equipped with an onboard tracking device called an Automatic Identification System (AIS). These trackers broadcast information about ships, including their locations, and can be tracked on websites such as MarineTraffic.

But public records about the captain’s activities are incomplete and misleading. According to MarineTraffic, the captain’s last known port call was on July 9, arriving in Sorush, Iran, after stops in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates.

But Kopler believes this is part of a pattern of misleading entries by captains. Analysts at the company said the ship had previously carried crude oil from Venezuela and Iran while falsifying its location through trackers on the ship, a process known as spoofing.

Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, but Exports are sanctioned In 2019, the United States sought to force a transition of power from the government of President Nicolás Maduro, which was widely accused of rigging the election.

The company noted that while its AIS showed the vessel was anchored at the Basra Oil Terminal in Iraq on July 7 and 8, terminal reports showed the vessel had no record of being there. Kepler said the Captain loaded crude oil at Iran’s Kharg Island.

Tracking data shows the Captain then sailed east, and Kepler suggested it made a ship-to-ship transfer between August 11 and 13. The cargo was later unloaded in China, where Kepler said the cargo was “misdeclared.”

It returned via Iran and headed for the Caribbean. Skipper last announced its location on November 7, a few miles off the coast of Guyana. Its location did not resurface until after the U.S. raid on 10 December.

In the meantime, satellite imagery identified by TankerTrackers.com and confirmed by BBC verify showed that the captain was in Puerto José, Venezuela, on November 18, but was not present on the tracking site at that time.

Analysts say it has become common for ships to deceive or hide their locations while loading Venezuelan oil since sanctions were imposed.

Kpler analysts said the vessel loaded “at least 1.1 million barrels of Merey crude oil” at the terminal on November 16 and listed Cuba as its destination.

There is also evidence that the captain conducted a ship-to-ship transfer with another ship on December 7, just days before U.S. forces boarded the ship. Satellite images seen by Kepler appeared to show the exchange, with one of the ships identified by Kepler as the Captain.

The transfer took place off the coast of Venezuela, close to the city of Barcelona. According to MarineTraffic, the captain was last seen off the coast of Guyana a few weeks ago.

Kopler told BBC Verify that between October 28 and December 4, the captain broadcast a “rigged” AIS signal that did not reflect his actual position.

Kopler said such sanctions evasion was not unusual for Venezuelan oil exports. The company said tankers often divert cargo away from the Malaysian coast before oil is imported into China.

Frederik Van Lokeren, a former Belgian navy lieutenant and analyst, told BBC Verify that while such ship-to-ship transfers were not illegal or wrong, they were “extremely rare”. He said such activity often indicates ships trying to evade sanctions by diverting oil to vessels that are not openly involved in smuggling.

Van Lokeren said Venezuela’s refining capacity has declined significantly in recent years and it is “reliant” on its Iranian and Russian allies to convert its crude into more commercially profitable products.

MarineTraffic lists the beneficial owner and operator as Thomarose Global Ventures Ltd of Nigeria and the registered owner as Triton Navigation Corp of the Marshall Islands.

In 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department said that sanctioned Russian oil giant Viktor Artemov was using Triton to facilitate a global “oil smuggling network.”

At the time, U.S. officials said Artemov used a vast network of ships, often with unclear registrations, to transport Iranian oil.

The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement that Triton “provided material assistance, sponsored or provided financial, material or technical support to Atemov, or provided goods or services to Atemov.”

BBC verify is trying to contact both companies for comment.