US sanctions shipping companies and vessels it says move Venezuelan oil, a day after seizing tanker

By Michael Rios, Lex Harvey, Sandi Sidhu, Isaac Yee, CNN

(CNN) — The US has announced new sanctions on shipping companies and vessels it says help move Venezuelan oil, putting more pressure on a major prop of President Nicolas Maduro’s regime a day after it seized a sanctioned tanker likely carrying millions of dollars’ worth of oil off the country’s coast.

Three nephews of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, as well as another Maduro-affiliated businessman were also named in the sanctions list released on Thursday by the US Treasury. Two of the sanctioned nephews were previously convicted of drug trafficking charges in the US before being released in a prisoner swap.

The Treasury said the six vessels were engaged in “deceptive and unsafe shipping practices” that provided financial resources to Maduro’s government. Four of the vessels are Panama-flagged. The other two are Cook Islands and Hong Kong-flagged.

The move further escalates the Trump administration’s months-long pressure campaign on Venezuela that has included moving thousands of troops and a carrier strike group into the Caribbean, strikes on suspected drug boats and repeated threats against Maduro.

On Wednesday armed US personnel seized an oil tanker in international waters off the Venezuelan coast that had allegedly been involved in an “illicit oil shipping network” supporting countries such as Venezuela and Iran, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Venezuela is home to the planet’s single-largest known mass of crude oil, but international sanctions and a deep economic crisis have crippled the country’s oil industry.

State-owned oil and natural gas company PDVSA still represents the biggest revenue source for Maduro’s cash-strapped government however, thanks partly to a network of shadowy vessels that smuggle Venezuelan oil into global supply chains.

The seizure of the tanker and the latest sanctions on companies and ships accused of helping to move Venezuelan oil could inject uncertainty into those operations, said Muyu Xu, a senior oil analyst at trade intelligence firm Kpler.

“What we need to watch out the next few days is whether the loadings will get delayed, whether they (Venezuela) will see less tankers going to the Caribbean,” she told CNN.

“In order to attract these vessels, they (Venezuela) probably need to pay higher freight rates for the ship owners.”

Additional seizures are possible in the coming weeks as the US applies pressure on Maduro, a senior US official previously told CNN.

Maduro has claimed that Trump’s escalating campaign against him is primarily motivated by a desire to get at Venezuelan oil.

Reuters reported Maduro said the boat, known as the Skipper had been carrying almost two million barrels of oil “to international markets” when it was seized.

Oil prices remain around $58 a barrel in the United States.

With the tanker carrying around 1.8 million barrels of Merey crude, Kpler’s Xu told CNN the value of the landed cargo would be worth around $84 million.

Venezuela produces about 1 million barrels of oil per day, but only about 0.8% of global crude production. That’s less than half of what it produced before Maduro took control of the country in 2013 and less than a third of the 3.5 million barrels it was pumping before the Socialist regime took over in 1999.

CNN has reached out to the Venezuelan government for comment on the latest sanctions.

Targeted tankers

The seized tanker was headed to Cuba and carrying Venezuelan crude when it was seized by US forces – around the same time as Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado touched down in Oslo, after she defied a travel ban and fled the country.

Previously named Adisa, the tanker was sanctioned by the US in 2022 for facilitating oil trades for Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.

Skipper had hidden its true location while docked at a Venezuelan oil terminal last month, according to satellite and shipping data reviewed by CNN. The tanker was flying a Guyana flag, despite not being registered in Guyana, the country’s Maritime Administration Department said.

None of the six vessels sanctioned on Thursday were in the Caribbean as of early Friday EST, according to AIS shipping data reviewed by CNN.

As of early Friday EST there were at least 8 tankers under US sanctions related to Iran or Russia’s war on Ukraine near Venezuelan ports, or off its coast, according to AIS shipping data reviewed by CNN and matched up with US Treasury data. This includes three tankers that are around the Port Jose Oil Terminal, the same terminal the recently seized vessel Skipper was spotted on satellite imagery last month.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Skipper will now travel to an American port, where US authorities intend to take possession of its oil cargo.

Meanwhile, Maduro said the seizure marked “a new era of criminal naval piracy in the Caribbean,” as his government filed a formal complaint with the International Maritime Organization.

Kpler’s Xu said if the US started frequently arresting crews or detaining cargoes, it could be a problem for Venezuela’s ability to ship out its oil.

“It could really be problematic, because maybe at some point these ship owners would sense that the risk is simply too high and nobody wants to come. “

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CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon and Donald Judd contributed to this report.