The US early on Friday boarded another oil tanker, the US military said, as part of efforts to target sanctions-busting vessels traveling to and from Venezuela.
US forces were seen in video footage that officials posted online landing on the ship’s deck as the vessel named Olina was seized in the Caribbean near Trinidad. It is the fifth interdiction of such ships in recent weeks, separately from the series of previous US operations since the start of the fall to strike suspected drug boats off the coast of Venezuela.
The pre-dawn action against the oil tanker on Friday was carried out by US marines and navy sailors from the forces the US has built up in the Caribbean in recent months, according to US Southern Command, which declared “there is no safe haven for criminals” as it announced the seizure of the vessel. The assault was launched from the aircraft carrier the USS Gerald R Ford.
The Trump administration has moved to control the distribution of Venezuela’s oil products globally after its ousting and capture of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, less than a week ago from the capital city, Caracas, in a night-time raid which included airstrikes and US special forces deployed on the ground.
Southern Command also posted unclassified footage on social media of a US helicopter landing on the vessel and armed US personnel conducting a search of the deck, with the military forces acting in support of the US Coast Guard, which was in charge of the operation under the auspices of its parent agency the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, on X said the ship was seized in international waters and added: “As another ‘ghost fleet’ tanker ship suspected of carrying embargoed oil, this vessel had departed Venezuela attempting to evade US forces … The ghost fleets will not outrun justice.”
The Olina, according to public shipping database Equasis, was falsely flying the flag of the tiny south-east Asian nation of Timor Leste.
“The vessel’s AIS [location] tracker was last active 52 days ago in the Venezuelan EEZ, north-east of Curacao,” Vanguard, a British maritime risk management company, said separately.
“The seizure follows a prolonged pursuit of tankers linked to sanctioned Venezuelan oil shipments in the region.”
The Olina left Venezuela last week fully loaded with oil as part of a flotilla shortly after Maduro’s capture on 3 January, and the vessel was returning fully loaded to Venezuela after the US blockade of Venezuelan oil exports, the industry source said.
US government records show that the Olina was sanctioned for moving Russian oil under its prior name, Minerva M, and flagged in Panama.
While records show that the Olina is now flying the flag of Timor-Leste, it is also listed in the international shipping registry as having a false flag, meaning the registration it is claiming is not valid. In July, the owner and manager of the ship on its registration was changed to a company in Hong Kong.
The US government said it was part of the so-called shadow fleet of ships that sail with little regulation or known insurance.
According to ship-tracking databases, the Olina last transmitted its location in November in the Caribbean, north of the Venezuelan coast. Since then, however, the ship has been running dark with its location beacon turned off.
The ship has a listed cargo capacity of up to 890,000 barrels of oil, which at the current market price of about $60 a barrel would be about $53m.
Venezuela’s government on Friday acknowledged that US diplomats had traveled to the South American country, and announced that it will send a delegation to the US but it did not say when.
Officials said US diplomats were in Caracas to discuss reopening the country’s embassy.
The government of interim president Delcy Rodriguez “has decided to initiate an exploratory diplomatic process with the government of the United States of America, aimed at re-establishing diplomatic missions in both countries,” foreign minister Yvan Gil said in a statement.
John McNamara, the top US diplomat in neighbouring Colombia, and other personnel “traveled to Caracas to conduct an initial assessment for a potential phased resumption of operations,” a US official said on customary condition of anonymity.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting
