Reported by Christiaan Triebert and Anatoly Kurmanae

(Summary featured below. To read full report, go to: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/world/americas/oil-tankers-venezuela-blockade.html)

At least 16 oil tankers sanctioned by the United States appear to have fled Venezuelan ports in a coordinated effort to evade a sweeping U.S. naval blockade on the country’s oil exports. Satellite imagery shows the vessels departing shortly after the capture of Nicolás Maduro, with several engaging in deceptive practices such as turning off tracking signals or falsifying their identities and locations.

Four of the tankers have been tracked sailing east off Venezuela’s coast while “spoofing” their positions and using the names of decommissioned or unrelated vessels. According to internal documents from Venezuela’s state oil company and industry sources, these ships left port without authorization from the interim government, signaling both operational defiance and a breakdown of centralized control over oil exports.

The remaining 12 tankers have gone dark entirely, ceasing transmission of their locations and disappearing from available satellite imagery. U.S. officials say the blockade—described as one of the largest modern naval “quarantines”—is aimed at sanctioned shadow vessels transporting Venezuelan crude, though oil shipments by Chevron to the U.S. remain exempt. U.S. forces have already seized or intercepted several tankers attempting to breach the blockade.

Experts note that the evasion strategy appears to rely on both deception and volume. By sending multiple vessels out simultaneously, operators may be attempting to overwhelm enforcement capacity and increase the odds that some tankers slip through. This tactic mirrors broader patterns seen in the so-called “ghost fleet,” a network of illicit tankers long associated with sanctioned Iranian and Russian oil trades.

From a financial crime and sanctions-risk perspective, the episode underscores how quickly maritime actors adapt when pressure intensifies. The use of spoofing, false vessel identities, dark activity, and sanctioned intermediaries highlights persistent weaknesses in global shipping oversight—and reinforces the need for enhanced maritime surveillance, trade-based money laundering controls, and real-time sanctions enforcement as geopolitical conflicts spill into commercial supply chains.