The United States has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, as the president himself announced at the White House. The operation, carried out by the Coast Guard under the direct orders of Donald Trump, took place at an unspecified time in the … Caribbean and affects a ship whose name and flag do not remain public.
The news immediately caused crude oil prices to rise. Brent rose to $62.35 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate reached $58.46, after a session that started in the negative. The White House did not respond to ABC’s questions and other media on the details of the intervention, and the government of Nicolas Maduro has also not commented.
Venezuela exported more than 900,000 barrels per day last month, its third volume of the year, driven by the importation of gasoline to dilute its extra-heavy crude oil. Until now, despite the pressure exerted on Maduro, Washington had not directly intervened in the country’s oil flows. Caracas now sells its crude oil at deeply discounted prices to China, in competition with oil sanctioned by Russia and Iran. Companies like Spain’s Repsol, India’s Reliance and Italy’s ENI are barred from accessing Venezuelan crude oil, while Chevron operates under a special license linked to debt payment.
The move comes amid a military escalation in the region, which includes the deployment of an aircraft carrier, fighters and tens of thousands of troops. Trump toughened his tone after the operation and declared in a brief message during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room: “We have just seized an oil tanker in Venezuela.” The seizure adds to an already tense climate, following Maduro’s accusations that the United States is preparing an intervention to overthrow him and seize the country’s oil reserves.
María Corina persecuted by the regime
The episode coincides with the clandestine departure of María Corina Machado to Curaçao, from where she undertakes a trip to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. The Venezuelan leader, persecuted by the regime and the subject of an arrest warrant, dedicated the prize to Trump, further strengthening the political impact of the gesture in Caracas and Washington. He is not present at the event, but he was able to meet government leaders from around the world in Oslo.
The seizure reopens a front which has already marked the bilateral relationship since Trump’s first term, when Washington imposed a total embargo on Venezuelan oil in 2019. The veto crippled state oil company PDVSA’s exports to its main market and forced Caracas to redirect its crude oil to Asia at deeply discounted prices.
The Biden administration rolled back some of these restrictions in 2022 and 2023, granting temporary licenses to certain companies to operate with PDVSA in exchange for election gains that were never consolidated. The new move from the White House once again places the oil issue at the center of the political conflict with the dictatorial Maduro regime.
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