U.S. Seeks Forfeiture for Tanker and Oil Cargo Seized off Venezuela
The U.S. Department of Justice filed for the forfeiture of the tanker Skipper (310,000 dwt) and the cargo of Venezuelan crude onboard, along with the arrest of the vessel, which it has been holding since December 10, 2025. The ship was seized at the beginning of the U.S. campaign against Venezuela and has been held anchored near the Galveston, Texas, oil terminal since December 21.
The complaint alleges the tanker has a long history of facilitating fuel sales for both Iran and Venezuela. It has been under U.S. sanctions since November 2022, when it was operating as Adisa. At the time U.S. forces boarded the ship in December, they reported it was claiming a false flag in Guyana, rendering it stateless.
The ship had loaded approximately 1.8 million barrels of crude in Venezuela in November. The U.S. contends that 1.1 million barrels were to have been delivered to the Cuban state-run oil company, which is also sanctioned. However, they report the ship had been ordered by its operators not to go to Cuba and was instead going to Asia when it was boarded in the Caribbean on December 10.
“The era of secretly bankrolling regimes that pose clear threats to the United States is over,” said U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “This Department of Justice will deploy every legal authority at our disposal to completely dismantle and permanently shutter any operation that defies our laws and fuels chaos across the globe.”
The complaint tracks the vessel and its operations over the past few years and backs up its allegations with satellite pictures and tracking data. It alleges the tanker disguised its activities by spoofing its location, flying false flags, conducting ship-to-ship transfers, and other tactics to avoid sanctions. It cites numerous incidents of spoofing in 2024 and 2025 with false transmissions in the Persian Gulf region and the Gulf of Guinea, as well as operations between Egypt and the Mediterranean.
Skipper loading in Venezuela in 2021 (from US forfeiture complaint)
The U.S. tracked the ship, reporting several instances of loading at the Jose Terminal operated by the Venezuelan state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA). It also states that the ship, over the past two years, has loaded more than seven million barrels of Iranian crude, the most recent time around July 2025.
Concurrent with the filing of the forfeiture complaint, a warrant for the arrest of the vessel was also filed. The Marshal’s Service was instructed to serve the vessel.
Ownership of the vessel is uncertain. The U.S. reports that when it was sanctioned, it was listed as a Marshall Islands corporation, but after the name change to Skipper, it reports the ship was controlled by a corporation registered in the Seychelles. Equasis lists its ownership with an address in Nigeria. Built in 2005, the ship is part of one of the largest classes of tankers in operation.
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The U.S. asserts that it is entitled to the seizure based on the tanker’s activities, which it says were generating funds for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and others who were using the money to fund terrorist activities.
It is the first of what is likely to be several forfeiture complaints as the U.S. moves against the tankers it has seized. The Skipper is one of at least two tankers the U.S. is believed to be holding off Texas. Reports indicated yesterday that the tanker Marinera (Bella 1) had departed Scotland under U.S. authority and also appears headed to the United States. Recently, the U.S. has also stopped three tankers in the Indian Ocean.