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Enable Cookies<\/a> The vessel is believed to be the Panama-flagged Centuries, according to the maritime risk management company Vanguard.<\/p>\n The oil tanker, which was recently spotted near the Venezuelan coast, was seized east of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea.<\/p>\n A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the raid was a “consented boarding,” with the tanker stopping voluntarily to allowing American forces aboard.<\/p>\n Image: It’s understood that the operation was led by the Coast Guard with the US military providing helicopter support.<\/p>\n The US has already seized a sanctioned oil tanker, called Skipper, off the coast of Venezuela<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n But Centuries has not been sanctioned by the US, according to Jeremy Paner, a partner at Hughes Hubbard law firm in Washington DC, and former investigator at the Office of Foreign Assets Control.<\/p>\n Image: “The seizure of \u200ca vessel that is not sanctioned by the US marks a further increase in Trump’s pressure on Venezuela,” he said.<\/p>\n “It also runs counter to Trump’s statement that the US would impose a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers.”<\/p>\n The ship, which was bound for China with some 1.8 million barrels of oil, loaded in Venezuela under the false name Crag, Reuters news agency reported, citing internal documents from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA.<\/p>\n It departed the country on Wednesday and was briefly escorted by the Venezuelan navy, according to TankerTrackers.com.<\/p>\n Image: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of neighbouring Brazil has since cautioned the US against an “armed intervention” in Venezuela.<\/p>\n During a summit of the South American Mercosur bloc, he said: “Armed intervention in Venezuela would be a \u2060humanitarian catastrophe.”<\/p>\n He also referred to the 1982 Falklands War between Britain and Argentina, and said “the South \u2060American continent is once again haunted by \u200cthe military presence of an extra-regional power”.<\/p>\n If the US did intervene, he said, it would set a “dangerous precedent for the world”.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n \n Last week: Watch dramatic US tanker seizure unfold\n <\/p>\n In recent weeks there has been a steady build up of US forces in the region, effectively placing Venezuela under embargo.<\/p>\n “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” US President Donald Trump<\/a> said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”<\/p>\n Image: Image: In his post on social media, the president also branded the regime of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> as “illegitimate” and a “foreign terrorist organisation”.<\/p>\n He continued: “Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”<\/p>\n Spotify<\/p>\n This content is provided by Spotify, which may be using cookies and other technologies. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spotify cookies. Enable Cookies<\/a> \ud83d\udc49 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app \ud83d\udc48 <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Since the Skipper was seized, vessels carrying millions of barrels of oil have been staying put in Venezuelan waters, fearing that the US will intercept them.<\/p>\n Some of these are considered to be part of a “shadow fleet” – vessels that use concealing tactics to transport goods for sanctioned countries like Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.<\/p>\n More than 70 oil tankers in Venezuelan waters this week are part of the so-called shadow fleet, with some 38 sanctioned by the US Treasury, according to data from TankerTrackers.com.<\/p>\n Read more: President Trump has been ramping up pressure on the Maduro regime, accusing it of involvement in the drugs trade.<\/p>\n As part of his efforts, he has also authorised deadly strikes against vessels he claims are trafficking drugs in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.<\/p>\n President Maduro claims Mr Trump is trying to overthrow him with a view to seizing Venezuela’s oil reserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US has been warned against risking a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Venezuela after it seized another tanker. Secretary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327484,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-327483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n Allow Cookies Once<\/a><\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/skynews-venezuela-tanker-oil-tanker_7116381.jpg\")
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\n The second tanker is seized. Pic: X\/@Sec_Noem<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/skynews-venezuela-tanker-oil_7116376.jpg\")
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\n A tanker is seized. Pic: @Sec_Noem<\/p>\n![\"Brazil's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/skynews-brazil-lula_7116352.jpg\")
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\n Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula at the Mercosur Summit in Foz do Iguacu. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/venezuela-tanker-seizure_7107055.jpg\")
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\n Mr Maduro says the US is trying to seize Venezuela’s oil reserves. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n![\"Mr](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/skynews-trump-white-house_7113560.jpg\")
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\n Mr Trump branded the Venezuelan leader ‘illegitimate’. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n
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US says eight ‘narco-terrorists’ killed in three boat strikes<\/a>
Maduro’s ‘narco nephews’ hit with sanctions<\/a><\/p>\n