A U.S. subject chopper flies adjacent an lipid tanker during a raid described by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi arsenic its seizure by the United States disconnected the seashore of Venezuela, Dec. 10, 2025, successful a inactive representation from video.
U.S. Attorney General | Via Reuters
At slightest 34 U.S.-sanctioned lipid tankers with a past of carrying Venezuelan lipid are presently astatine oversea successful the Caribbean, according to a caller investigation obtained by CNBC connected Wednesday.
And astatine slightest 12 of those tankers look to beryllium filled with crude lipid from Venezuela, according to vas location data from Kpler, a planetary commercialized quality company.
One of the tankers, Skipper, was seized by the U.S. forces successful the Caribbean last week and was being taken to the United States.
Kpler provided the investigation a time aft President Donald Trump vowed to enforce a "complete and full blockade" connected sanctioned lipid tankers moving successful and retired of Venezuela. Trump besides deemed the nation's ruling Maduro authorities a overseas violent organization.
The U.S. is expected to artifact lone sanctioned tankers carrying lipid from Venezuela, not akin vessels that person different nations' crude, including lipid from Iran and Russia, according to Kpler.
"In airy of President Trump's caller announcement, these tankers whitethorn beryllium exposed to heightened scrutiny and imaginable enforcement actions by U.S. authorities," Dimitris Ampatzidis, elder hazard and compliance Analyst astatine Kpler, told CNBC.
In a abstracted study to clients connected Wednesday, Kpler said that a blockade of Venezuelan lipid should not pb to higher crude prices.
Location of U.S. sanctioned Venezuelan Tankers. Green colored are tankers filled with Venezuelan oil, Orange colored are the bare tankers.
Kpler
"The determination has truthful acold failed to supply a meaningful boost to lipid prices oregon to overturn underlying fundamentals, mostly due to the fact that the marketplace is two-tiered and adjacent the sanctioned conception remains crowded," Kpler's study said.
Oil prices rallied by astir 2% connected Wednesday.
Chevron is the lone institution authorised by the United States to transportation Venezuelan crude to the U.S.
"Oil bound for the US nether Chevron's licence could proceed to flow," Kpler's study said.
"This suggests that Venezuelan proviso to sanctioned markets would beryllium disrupted, portion volumes destined for the US would stay intact, with China- and Cuba-bound cargoes bearing the brunt of the impact."
Besides Skipper, the 11 sanctioned tankers that look to beryllium carrying Venezuelan crude are Star Twinkle 6, Hyperion, Boceanica, Lydya N, Sensus, Soldier, Avril, Phenix VI, Manuela Saenz, Dianchi, and Yi Meng Shan.
Track of the 12 U.S. sanctioned Venezuelan tankers successful 2025
MarineTraffic
Venezuela has produced astir 900,000 barrels of crude lipid and condensate truthful acold successful 2025, accounting for astir 1% of the full planetary supply.
Kpler information indicates China buys astir 76 percent of Venezuela's output.
The U.S. has imported astir 17% of Venezuela's output successful 2025. That is astir fractional of the percent of output imported successful 2024.
Cuba, Spain, and Italy are the different important customers of Venezuela's oil.
"Cargoes bound for the US are expected to stay intact, portion China and Cuba are apt to question substitutes from Russia and Iran," Kpler's study noted.
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