What we know about the Skipper, the oil tanker seized by the US near Venezuela

USA They seized a 20-year-old oil tanker called The Skipper off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday, three sources familiar with the matter told News themezone, after months of intense tensions between the Trump administration and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The seizure was initially announced by President Trump during an unrelated event at the White House on Wednesday. Here’s what we know about the ship and the operation:

Special operations forces and 2 helicopters participated in the seizure.

The operation to seize the tanker began Wednesday morning, after the ship had just left a port in Venezuela, according to a senior military officer and a source familiar with the operation.

The mission was launched from USS Gerald R. Fordan aircraft carrier that has been in the area for weeks as part of a broader buildup of U.S. forces in the region, sources told News themezone.

They involved two helicopters, special operations forces, 10 members of the US Coast Guard and 10 Marines, the sources said. The boarding team was comprised of the Coast Guard Maritime Security and Response Team, an elite maritime interdiction unit based in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Attorney General Pam Bondi released a 45-second video of the operation on X, showing armed personnel descending to the ship’s deck from a helicopter. He said the United States executed a seizure order on the vessel and that the tanker was “used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.”

While the U.S. government (particularly the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations) has seized sanctioned oil tankers before, conducting a fast-rope boarding from helicopters at sea is rare, although it is something the boarding team trains to do, U.S. officials said.

The operation was led by the Coast Guard, with support from Navy forces, officials told News themezone. Any such operation would legally require the Coast Guard to be the lead agency because the authorities used for these seizures fall under the jurisdiction of the Coast Guard.

What is happening to the ship and its oil after the seizure?

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that the ship “is currently in the forfeiture process.”

“The United States currently has a full investigation team on land, on the ship, and the people on board the ship are being interviewed and any relevant evidence is being seized,” he said.

Leavitt said the ship will go to a U.S. port.

“The United States intends to seize the oil,” he continued. “However, there is a legal process for the seizure of that oil, and that legal process will be followed.”

The oilman was sanctioned by the Treasury 3 years ago

The Skipper was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in 2022 for his alleged role in an oil smuggling ring that helped finance the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group backed by Iran.

The ship, known as Adisa in 2022, is among vessels controlled by sanctioned Russian oil tycoon Viktor Artemov, the Treasury said in a statement. At the time, the Treasury said Artemov transported Iranian oil using a vast network of ships that were often obscurely registered with the intent of circumventing U.S. restrictions on Iranian oil exports.

The Treasury sanctions announcement for 2022 did not mention Venezuela. But oil networks involving both Iran and Venezuela have been reported for years, drawing opposition from the United States. The two countries are major oil producers with some of the world’s largest oil reserves, but trade is restricted by heavy US sanctions.

The tanker is controlled by Nigeria-based management company Thomarose Global Ventures LTD and is owned by a company linked to Artemov, according to publicly available data.

The ship is 20 years old and initially sailed under the name The Toyo in 2005. At 333 meters (approximately 1,092 feet) in length, it was one of the largest oil tankers in the world at the time of its construction.

The government of Guyana, which borders Venezuela, said in a statement on Wednesday that the ship was falsely flying the Guyana flag, despite not being registered in the South American country.

Bondi said the ship was sanctioned “due to its involvement in an illicit oil transportation network that supports foreign terrorist organizations.”

“This seizure, completed off the coast of Venezuela, was carried out safely, and our investigation together with the Department of Homeland Security to prevent the transportation of sanctioned oil continues,” the attorney general said.

The Venezuelan government said in a statement that it “strongly denounces and repudiates what constitutes brazen theft and an act of international piracy.”