U.S. Coast Guard Boards Tanker Carrying Venezuelan Oil

The vessel, which was flying a Panamanian flag, was not on a list of tankers under U.S. sanctions.

The U.S. Coast Guard stopped and boarded a Panamanian-flagged tanker carrying Venezuelan oil early Saturday, according to a U.S. official and two people inside Venezuela’s oil industry.

All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic. The boarding represents the United States’ second action this month against a tanker carrying Venezuelan crude oil to Asia, escalating President Trump’s pressure campaign against the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Mr. Trump has accused Mr. Maduro of flooding the United States with fentanyl and of stealing oil from American companies, without providing evidence.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump had announced “a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela.”

But the vessel boarded on Saturday, called the Centuries, is not on a list of tankers under U.S. sanctions that is publicly maintained by the Treasury Department. The people inside Venezuela’s oil industry said the cargo belongs to an established China-based oil trader with a history of taking Venezuelan crude oil to Chinese refineries.

The ship had recently left Venezuela and was in Caribbean waters.

Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said in a post on X Saturday afternoon that the Coast Guard had “apprehended” a tanker that had been docked in Venezuela.

“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco terrorism in the region,” she wrote. “We will find you, and we will stop you.”

Ms. Noem also posted a video that appeared to show U.S. forces rappelling from a helicopter onto the ship’s deck.

It was unclear if the United States intended to seize the Centuries, as it did another tanker carrying Venezuelan oil last week. The U.S. official said that American authorities did not have a seizure warrant to take possession of Centuries or its cargo.

The Pentagon referred questions to the White House, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

With tensions between the United States and Venezuela rising significantly, Mr. Maduro ordered his navy to escort oil tankers leaving Venezuelan ports.

International law states a ship may be boarded if there are reasonable grounds to believe it is not legitimately registered to the state whose flag it is flying. The U.S. official said that the Coast Guard was trying to determine if the Centuries’s Panama registration was valid.

Armed U.S. agents on Dec. 10 boarded and seized a tanker called the Skipper that was carrying Venezuelan oil, was flying a false flag and was under U.S. sanctions for previously carrying Iranian crude. In that case, American authorities had a seizure warrant for the Skipper signed by a federal judge, based on the vessel’s connections to Iran, which the United States has said sells oil to finance terrorism.

Centuries has no known connection to Iran, according to the people inside Venezuela’s oil industry. The ship carried fuel oil from Venezuela to China earlier this year, data from Venezuela’s state oil company shows.

Edward Wong and John Ismay contributed reporting.

Related Content