Shipping and the shadow fleet of tankers appear to be entering a new era, as the US intensifies its efforts to stop crude oil exports from Venezuela. As part of this operation, the US has “stopped,” by intercepting the course of a tanker in the Caribbean belonging to the shadow fleet, thus preventing it from approaching Venezuela.
To achieve this, it used one of its navy destroyers that have been deployed in the Caribbean. The USS Stockdale has intercepted the course of the tanker Seahorse 3 times, thereby preventing it from approaching the Latin American country.
Bloomberg reports that this incident began to unfold on November 13 when the Seahorse first approached Venezuela. It reports that the ship changed course by 180 degrees and headed towards Cuba. Since then, the tanker has attempted two more times to approach Venezuela, but both times it has turned back.
According to its AIS data, which is located north of Aruba, along with many other tankers reporting in their AIS that they are “for orders.”
The Seahorse is a vessel that belongs to the shadow fleet and has been sanctioned, and according to Bloomberg, it has been used to transport naphtha cargo from Russian refineries to Venezuela. In the past, the organization United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) had also reported that the vessel was used in Iran-Venezuela trade, with both Russia and Iran supporting Venezuela’s need for oil products, aiming to maintain its oil activities.
The tanker with a carrying capacity of 70,246 dwt, which was built in 2004, has changed its name eight times, three of which in the last two years. It flies the flag of the Comoros, which Equasis reports as false, as it previously appeared to have changed three more flags, those of Liberia, Panama, and Barbados.
The US has deployed its warships in the area in a show of force, with Donald Trump reportedly considering military intervention in Venezuela to stop drug trafficking and overthrow the regime of President Nicolás Maduro.
Bloomberg, using Kpler data, estimates that there are 50 tankers en route to China and India, while many others are in various other points of the world such as the Baltic. It speculates that nearly 48 million barrels of Russian crude oil could be trapped at sea.
