What we know about the U.S. oil tanker seizure off Venezuela

An American helicopter flies low over the hazy blue sea, approaching a huge ship. It hovered as camouflaged soldiers with rifles swung along ropes to the ship’s deck.

The video released by the US government shows the latest in a series of escalating actions by Washington to put pressure on the government of Nicolás Maduro – the seizure of a crude oil tanker.

The United States claimed that the tanker was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran in an “illicit oil transportation network supporting foreign terrorist organizations.”

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Ivan Gil called the seizure “an act of international piracy” and claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump wanted Venezuela’s energy resources.

Here’s what we know.

“We just seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela – a large oil tanker, very large, actually the largest oil tanker ever seized,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.

Attorney General Pam Bondi shared video of the operation on social media. Bundy said the U.S. Coast Guard, FBI, Homeland Security Investigations and Department of Defense issued seizure warrants for the tanker.

The exact location of the tanker when it was seized is unclear, but a senior military official told BBC US partner CBS News that the tanker had just left a port in Venezuela.

The 45-second video shows an American team walking on the deck with weapons drawn. No crew in sight.

The seizure involved two helicopters, 10 Marines and 10 U.S. Coast Guard members, as well as special operations forces, a source familiar with the operation told CBS.

Sources said those aboard the ship were an elite group of the Coast Guard, the Maritime Safety and Response Team.

The team is trained in counter-terrorism and high-risk law enforcement boarding procedures – like the quick rope boarding from a helicopter seen in the video. It was created during the national security reforms following the September 11 attacks.

The Coast Guard, with support from the Navy, led the operation, officials told CBS.

Victor Hansen, a former military attorney and law professor at New England Law School in Boston, said the Trump administration “hasn’t really been clear in articulating the legal basis for the seizure.”

“They do not appear to be relying on military justifications, unlike the targeting of (drug-trafficking) boats,” he added. “This appears to be more related to violating sanctions on Venezuela and Iran.”

Hansen said military operations, including “access, board, search and seizure” missions at sea, always include “formal and impromptu” input from military lawyers before and during operations.

“But they do not have the command authority to approve or deny operations,” he added. “What they do is provide advice to commanders about legalities, risks and rewards.”

Even if Venezuelan seizures are carried out by non-military law enforcement units such as the Coast Guard, “there are attorneys who can play a similar role.”

Mr Hansen also noted that while boarding missions had been carried out in the past – for example in the Persian Gulf or the Arabian Sea – what was different about the latest incident was that in addition to its cargo, the ship was also seized.

“This is not something that has been done recently,” he said.

Maritime risk firm Vanguard Tech identified the ship as the Skipper and said it believed the vessel had long been “spoofing” its location, or broadcasting a false location.

Since its construction 20 years ago, the ship has sailed under other names, including Toyo and Adisa. The Skipper is 333m (1,092 feet) long and 60m wide and is classified as a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC).

Vanguard Tech said the vessel “is reportedly part of the Dark Fleet and is subject to U.S. sanctions for transporting Venezuelan oil exports.” Dark Fleet refers to ships used to smuggle sanctioned goods.

According to Reuters, citing analysis by TankerTrackers.com and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, the tanker is believed to have left the Jose oil port on December 4 or 5, carrying about 1.8 million barrels of heavy crude oil, of which about 200,000 barrels were transferred to another ship before being seized.

According to CBS, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Skipper in 2022 for his alleged involvement in oil smuggling to generate revenue for the Lebanese Hezbollah organization and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.

BBC verify found the tanker on MarineTraffic, which showed it was flying the Guyanese flag when it updated its location two days before the seizure. However, Guyana’s Ministry of Maritime Administration issued a statement late on Wednesday saying the captain “erroneously flew the Guyanese flag as it was not registered in Guyana”.

MarineTraffic shows it last approached Iran in mid-September before reaching the coast of Guyana in late October and making little further movement since then. This data may be partial or incorrect due to spoofing.

Asked by reporters what the U.S. would do with the tanker’s oil, Trump said: “I think we’re going to keep it… I think we’re going to keep the oil.”

The current global crude oil price is about $61 (£46) a barrel, which means the collection on the Captain could be worth more than $95 million – if it does contain 1.6 million barrels after 200,000 barrels are removed. The BBC has not yet verified how much oil is on board.

“This tanker has been subject to U.S. sanctions for many years for its participation in illicit oil transportation networks that support foreign terrorist organizations,” Bondi, the top U.S. attorney, said of the seized vessel.

Maduro accuses the United States of using its ongoing military buildup in the Caribbean and “war on drugs” to try to overthrow him and gain access to Venezuelan oil, which the United States denies.

Venezuela has the largest known crude oil reserves in the world. But analysts highlighted the complexities. This oil is considered “heavy” and highly viscous, which means extracting it requires special equipment and knowledge.

Venezuela also has trouble exporting its vast resources due to aging infrastructure and tough U.S. sanctions.

The Trump administration has spent much of last year fighting the flow of drugs — particularly fentanyl and cocaine — into the United States.

As part of the effort, Trump designated two Venezuelan criminal groups — Trende Aragua and Cater de los Sols — as foreign terrorist organizations, claiming the latter are led by Maduro himself.

Without providing evidence, Trump also accused Maduro of “emptying his prisons and insane asylums” and “forcing” inmates to immigrate to the United States. Stopping immigration is another White House priority.

The United States has deployed 15,000 troops and a fleet of aircraft carriers, guided missile destroyers and amphibious assault ships to the Caribbean as part of the pressure campaign. They include the world’s largest warship – the USS Gerald R. Ford – from which helicopters were flown as part of the seizure of the tanker.

Mick Mulroy, a former Marine, CIA paramilitary officer and undersecretary of defense at the Pentagon, told the BBC that seizing the tanker would “increase pressure on the Venezuelan government” in a wider operation.

“Venezuela has huge oil reserves,” he said. “Seizing a tanker transporting oil or a tanker carrying the chemicals needed to pump crude oil out of the ground sends a message, especially if it’s just the beginning of an operation.”

Since early September, the US military has carried out more than 20 attacks in international waters on ships allegedly carrying drugs. More than 80 people have been killed.

The Trump administration has argued that it is involved in a non-international armed conflict with the alleged drug traffickers, whom it accuses of waging unconventional warfare against the United States.

The United States also described those on board as “narco-terrorists,” but legal experts said the attack was illegal because the designation “does not transform them into legitimate military targets.”