THE US announced fresh sanctions on Thursday targeting shadow fleet* tankers trading in Venezuela, a day after revealing that it seized an oil tanker off the country’s shores.

The designations, which targeted six very large crude carriers and their affiliated entities, was the first targeting of tankers for moving Venezuelan oil since US President Donald Trump’s last day in office during his previous term.

Wednesday’s seizure marked a significant escalation of US pressure on Venezuela and its authoritarian ruler, Nicolas Maduro, and came amid weeks of US military buildup in the Caribbean.

Several hours before the US Treasury Department announced the new sanctions, Reuters, citing six sources familiar with the matter, reported that more tanker seizures off Venezuela are planned.

The seized tanker, Skipper (IMO: 9304667), re-emerged on vessel-tracking data late on Wednesday southeast of Grenada and was heading northwards, according to Lloyd’s List Intelligence Automatic Identification System data. The vessel spoofed its AIS data from around October 28, when it arrived off South America’s shores, until December 8, when it went dark.

The stateless VLCC is laden with about 1.8m barrels of Merey crude from Venezuela’s Jose Terminal, according to Vortexa and TankerTrackers.

Skipper was sanctioned in 2022 in connection with shipments of Iranian oil on behalf of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah.

In a press briefing on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt indicated that the US intends to seize both the cargo and the vessel but that the process to seize the latter will be more straightforward than the former.

“The vessel has been seized, and the Department of Justice did that in conjunction with the Coast Guard and the Department of War. The vessel is currently undergoing a forfeiture process. The US currently has a full investigative team on the ground, on the vessel, and individuals on board the vessel are being interviewed, and any relevant evidence is being seized,” said Leavitt.

However, she said the oil itself was “a different issue”.

“The vessel will go to a US port, and the US does intend to seize the oil. However, there is a legal process for the seizure of that oil, and that legal process will be followed.”

Leavitt explained that the Department of Justice sought — and received — a warrant to seize the vessel “because it’s a sanctioned shadow vessel known for carrying black-market sanctioned oil [for] the IRGC”.

“The president is committed to stopping the illegal flow of drugs into our country; he’s also fully committed to effectuating this administration’s sanctions policy, and that is what you saw take place yesterday,” she said.

The US has previously seized tankers carrying Iranian oil, taking the cargoes and selling them for the benefit of victims-of-terrorism funds. It has sold nearly $300m of Iranian oil it seized and forfeited since Trump’s first term.

These actions were often followed by retaliatory hijackings from Iran.

Skipper’s seizure marked the first time a tanker carrying Venezuelan oil was seized, although given its statelessness, it could have been boarded by military authorities regardless of its designation or cargo.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control identified Skipper in 2022 as blocked property of a company sanctioned for providing material support for Ukrainian national Viktor Artemov, who in turn was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for providing support for Hezbollah and the IRGC.

The VLCCs sanctioned on Thursday are: White Crane (IMO: 9323429), Kiara M (IMO: 9285823), H.Constance (IMO: 9237773), Lattafa (IMO: 9245794), Tamia (IMO: 9315642), Monique (IMO: 9311270). All six vessels were already flagged by Lloyd's List Intelligence on its shadow fleet watchlist.