• Move is first known tanker seizure since US build-up began.
• Signals new effort to go after Venezuela’s main revenue source.
• Its impact on global oil supply is unclear.
  

WASHINGTON: The US has seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, a move that sent oil prices higher and sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas

“We’ve just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever, actually, and other things are happening,” said Trump, who has been pressuring Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down.

Asked what would happen with the oil, Trump said: “We keep it, I guess.”

Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of US military intervention in Venezuela. This incident was the first known action against an oil tanker since he ordered a massive military build-up in the region. The US has carried out strikes against suspected drug vessels, which raised concerns among lawmakers and legal experts.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that the FBI, Homeland Security and Coast Guard, along with support from the US military, carried out a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.

A 45-second video posted by Bondi showed two helicopters approaching a vessel and armed individuals in camouflage rappelling onto it.

Trump administration officials did not name the vessel. British maritime risk management group Vanguard said the tanker Skipper was believed to have been seized off Venezuela early on Wednesday. The US has imposed sanctions on the tanker for what Washington said was involvement in Iranian oil trading when it was called the Adisa.

The Skipper left Venezuela’s main oil port of Jose between December 4 and 5 after loading about 1.1 million barrels of Venezuela’s Merey heavy crude, according to satellite info analyzed by TankerTrackers.com and internal shipping data from Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

Oil futures rose following news of the seizure. After trading in negative territory, Brent crude futures rose 27 cents, or 0.4%, to settle at $62.21 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 21 cents, also 0.4%, to close at $58.46 per barrel.

Maduro on Wednesday spoke at a march commemorating a military battle, without addressing reports of the tanker’s seizure.

Impact on oil? 

Venezuela exported more than 900,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil last month, the third-highest monthly average so far this year, as PDVSA imported more naphtha to dilute its extra heavy oil output. Even as Washington increased pressure on Maduro, the US had not yet moved to interfere with oil flows.

Venezuela has had to deeply discount its crude in its main buyer, China, due to growing competition with sanctioned oil from Russia and Iran.

“This is just yet another geopolitical/sanctions headwind hammering spot supply availability,” Rory Johnston, an analyst with Commodity Context, said.

“Seizing this tanker further inflames those prompt supply concerns but also doesn’t immediately change the situation fundamentally because these barrels were already going to be floating around for a while,” Johnston said.

Chevron, which partners with PDVSA, said its operations in the country were normal and continuing without disruption.

The company, responsible for all Venezuelan crude exports to the US, last month increased crude exports to the US to some 150,000 bpd from 128,000 bpd in October.

Increasing pressure on Maduro

Maduro has alleged that the US military build-up is aimed at overthrowing him and gaining control of the OPEC nation’s vast oil reserves.

Since early September, the Trump administration has carried out more than 20 strikes against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing more than 80 people.

Experts say the strikes may be illegal, since there has been little or no proof made public that the boats are carrying drugs or that it was necessary to blow them out of the water rather than stop them, seize their cargo and question those on board.

Concerns about the strikes increased this month after reports that the commander overseeing the operation ordered a second strike that killed two survivors.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Wednesday found that a broad swath of Americans oppose the US military’s campaign of deadly strikes on the boats, including about one-fifth of Trump’s Republicans.

In a sweeping strategy document published last week, Trump said his administration’s foreign policy focus would be on reasserting its dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

A new forecast linked to Bulgarian clairvoyant Baba Vanga is gaining significant attention on social media, with 2026 quickly approaching.

Often referred to as the “Nostradamus of the Balkans,” Baba Vanga is popularly believed by her followers to have foreseen several major global events, including the 9/11 attacks, major climate shifts, and economic turmoil.

She was born in 1911 and passed away in 1996.

Recent reports claim that Baba Vanga allegedly foresaw a major technological transformation in 2026. As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly central to modern life, her prediction suggests that AI will further deepen its presence across various sectors.

Specialists suggest that such a shift could redefine workplaces, alter traditional business structures, and transform the way people live and interact with technology.

Baba Vanga — whose real name was Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova — reportedly lost her vision at age 12 after being caught in a violent tornado.

Among the predictions her followers believe she made are the 9/11 attacks, the Kursk submarine tragedy, the rise of cyber warfare, and her claim that the 44th US president would be African American.

Japan has scrambled jets to monitor Russian and Chinese air forces conducting joint patrols around the country, the Japanese defence ministry said late Tuesday, amid rising tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.

Two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable strategic bombers flew from the Sea of Japan toward the East China Sea to rendezvous with two Chinese H-6 bombers, and performed a “long-distance joint flight” in the Pacific, the ministry said.

Four Chinese J-16 fighter jets joined the bombers as they made a round-trip flight between Japan’s Okinawa and Miyako islands, it added. The Miyako Strait between the two islands is classified as international waters.

Japan also detected simultaneous Russian air force activity in the Sea of Japan, consisting of one early-warning aircraft A-50 and two Su-30 fighters, the ministry said.

Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said in a post on X on Wednesday that the Russian and Chinese joint operations were “clearly intended as a show of force against our nation, which is a serious concern for our national security.”

Japan’s fighter jets “strictly implemented air defence identification measures,” Koizumi added.

Russian news agencies reported that the Russian-Chinese joint flight near Japan lasted for eight hours, citing Moscow’s defence ministry.

South Korea’s military also said on Tuesday that seven Russian planes and two Chinese planes had entered its air defence zone.

Japan said on Sunday that Chinese carrier-launched fighter jets aimed radar at Japanese military aircraft a day earlier, an claim Beijing disputed.

Beijing’s rising military actions near Japan follow Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last month that Tokyo could respond to any Chinese military action against Taiwan that also threatened Japan’s security.

China and Russia have been ramping up military cooperation in recent years elsewhere, conducting joint operations such as an anti-missile training on Russian territory and live-fire naval exercises in the South China Sea.