Jan 5 (Reuters) – About a dozen tankers laden with Venezuelan crude and fuel have left the country’s waters since the start of the year, documents seen by industry sources including Reuters and monitoring service TankerTrackers.com show, in an apparent defiance of a U.S. government export blockade.
U.S. troops dramatically captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro early Saturday morning after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a blockade on all sanctioned oil tankers bound for Venezuela in mid-December. Trump said on Saturday that the oil embargo would remain in full effect after Maduro’s withdrawal.
Shipping data shows that all identified vessels departing are subject to sanctions and most are currently sailing on the high seas without any known flags or existing ship security documents. Half of them are supertankers that typically carry Venezuelan crude to China, according to shipping documents from TankerTrackers.com and PDVSA.
It is unclear whether the United States approved or allowed the shipment. Trump also said on Saturday that Venezuela’s biggest customers, including China, would continue to receive oil.
A U.S. official told Reuters on Monday that the ship “quarantine” was actually focused on sanctioned tankers, but did not elaborate on the vessels leaving port.
The White House, the U.S. State Department, Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and Venezuela’s oil ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
The vessels were carrying an estimated 12 million barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude and fuel oil, according to the deal negotiated with PDVSA and satellite images analyzed by TankerTrackers.com.
It was unclear where the ships were heading. When they are shipped in December, most are destined for Asia. The ships have been stuck in Venezuelan waters due to the U.S. blockade.
A separate group of three smaller empty vessels, also subject to sanctions, left the country after completing domestic trips or offloading imported cargo including Russian naphtha.
At least four departing tankers left Venezuelan waters on Saturday via a route north of Margarita Island after briefly stopping near the country’s maritime border, TankerTrackers.com said.
Venezuelan authorities have approved the departure of at least four supertankers in dark mode, three sources with knowledge of the departure documents told Reuters. That means the ships sailed without their satellite tracking devices turned on, a common tactic among tankers in the global fleet carrying sanctioned oil from Venezuela, Iran and Russia.
