Seized oil tanker Skipper hid location, visited Iran, Venezuela

The massive crude oil tanker that U.S. forces seized Wednesday off the coast of Venezuela since 2024 has proven a “clear sample” of spoofing its location to cover the place it truly was, in keeping with a number one power consulting agency.

And knowledge means that the Guyana-flagged tanker recognized as Skipper since 2022 has carried sanctioned oil from Iran and Venezuela.

The oil industries of each nations are underneath U.S. sanctions, and Skipper has been underneath sanction by the Workplace of International Property Management since 2022.

Matt Smith, head U.S. analyst on the consulting agency Kpler mentioned Skipper was covertly loaded with 1.1 million barrels of oil in mid-November.

Smith mentioned the ship seemed to be headed for Cuba, although it has been stopped offshore Venezuela because it was loaded.

Previously two years, there have been a complete of greater than 80 days in which there’s proof of Skipper participating in so-called AIS spoofing to obscure its location, in keeping with Kpler knowledge.

AIS, or computerized identification system, knowledge, supplies real-time details about a ship’s location and consists of the vessel’s identify, course, pace, classification, name signal and registration quantity, in keeping with the U.S. Coast Guard’s web site.

In the course of the time that the Skipper’s actual location was hidden on the AIS community, there have been a number of ship-to-ship transfers of cargo, in keeping with Kpler knowledge.

The Skipper displayed “a transparent sample of misleading operations that went far past what its AIS transmissions claimed,” mentioned Dimitris Ampatzidis, Kpler’s supervisor for danger and compliance.

In 2024, three AIS spoofings by the Skipper had been recorded in Egypt, Iran, the Mediterranean Sea, Ghana and Nigeria, in keeping with Kpler.

“Falisified positions had been broadcast, notably by prolonged AIS spoofing episodes,” mentioned Ampatzidis. “The Skipper engaged in actions totally inconsistent with its declared voyage, together with sanctioned loadings in Iran and Venezuela.

“These behaviours kind a coherent image: a vessel deliberately engineered to function outdoors transparency, utilizing digital manipulation and covert logistics to masks sanctioned crude flows underneath the looks of regular maritime visitors,” Ampatzidis mentioned.

Port name knowledge from 2025 reveals that Skipper transported oil out of the ports of Jose in Venezuela and Kharg Island in Iran, in keeping with Kpler knowledge.

In 2024, port requires Skipper included Banias Port in Syria and Kharg Island in Iran. And in 2023, Skipper visited the Port of Jose in Venezuela.

The Skipper is owned by Marshall Islands-based Triton Navigation Corp., and the useful cargo proprietor, vessel supervisor and operator is Nigeria-based Thomarose International Ventures Ltd., in keeping with Kpler knowledge.

Triton Navigation has been on the OFAC sanctions record since November 2022.

“I consider that the aim of seizing a sanctioned oil tanker is to make oil consumers and tanker homeowners working within the shadow fleet cautious of loading Venezuelan crude oil,  decreasing the Maduro authorities’s revenues and finally hastening his exit,” mentioned Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. 

“With oil costs hovering beneath $60 per barrel, it will seem the administration isn’t too anxious about dropping Venezuelan oil provides to the market; there may be loads of oil round,” Lipow mentioned.

“However, China could be sad dropping entry to deeply discounted oil provides.”

The seizure got here as President Donald Trump has ramped up strain on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump has mentioned that Maduro’s “days are numbered.”