{"id":194462,"date":"2025-12-22T11:46:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-pursuing-third-oil-tanker-near-venezuela-reports-say-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T11:46:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:46:27","slug":"us-pursuing-third-oil-tanker-near-venezuela-reports-say-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-pursuing-third-oil-tanker-near-venezuela-reports-say-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"US pursuing third oil tanker near Venezuela, reports say – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States is pursuing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, according to multiple reports, just a day after the Coast Guard seized a different tanker<\/a> in the same waters amid a rapid U.S. military buildup in the region.
If seized, it would mark the third U.S. interception of an oil tanker in less than two weeks. An official told Reuters<\/a> on Dec. 21 the tanker was under sanctions, and it had not been boarded so far. Officials did not give a specific location for the operation or name the vessel being pursued, according to Reuters. Bloomberg<\/a> was among the first to report on the operation.
The pursuit of the tanker comes less than a week after President Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0ordered a “blockade” of all sanctioned ships from entering and leaving Venezuela, further pressuring the oil-rich nation’s economy. Trump announced the move in a\u00a0Dec. 16 post on Truth Social<\/a>, also saying he formally designated Venezuelan President Nicola\u0301s Maduro and his government allies of a foreign terrorist organization.
Trump has accused Maduro of being a\u00a0drug trafficker and sending fentanyl<\/a>\u00a0that has contributed to the American opioid crisis, and he has blamed the country for a wave of immigration to the United States in recent years.
Maduro has alleged that the U.S. military build-up is aimed at overthrowing him and gaining control of the nation’s oil resources, which are the world’s largest in crude reserves. The country relies heavily on its export of crude oil, especially with its top trade partner, China.
The United States executed its first oil tanker seizure<\/a> on Dec. 10 in the recent friction. Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/a> said the crude oil tanker was used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. On Dec. 20, the United States seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker.
Only the first vessel was on the U.S. sanctions list.
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, told CBS News on Dec. 21 that both oil tankers were operating on the black market.
While many vessels picking up oil in Venezuela are under sanctions, others aren’t. Some companies, particularly the U.S. oil company Chevron, transport Venezuelan oil in their own authorized ships.
Since the United States imposed energy sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, traders and refiners buying Venezuelan oil have resorted to a “shadow fleet” of tankers that disguise their location.
Contributing: Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA TODAY.<\/em>
Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at<\/em>kapalmer@usatoday.com<\/em><\/a> and on X @<\/em>KathrynPlmr<\/em><\/a>. Sign up for her daily politics newsletter<\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States is pursuing an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, according to multiple reports, just a day after the Coast Guard seized a different tanker in the same waters amid a rapid U.S. military buildup in the region.If seized, it would mark the third U.S. interception of an oil tanker in less […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194463,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-194462","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}