US-seized tanker carrying Venezuelan crude sails toward Houston: Report

The oil supertanker Skipper, seized by the US near Venezuela this week as part of an increased pressure strategy against President Nicolas Maduro, is heading to Houston, Reuters reported, citing two sources.

The Very Large Crude Carrier is carrying about 1.85 million barrels of Venezuela’s Merey heavy crude, according to satellite images analysed by TankerTrackers.com. It is too large to transit through the Houston ship channel and will need to anchor nearby and offload the cargo to smaller ships, the port said. “At this time, we have not received any notifications or agent filings indicating that the M/V SKIPPER is scheduled to call the Port of Houston,” the Greater Houston Port Bureau’s President Eric Carrero said.Meanwhile, Supertankers, the largest class of vessels used to move crude, loaded at the Venezuelan govt-controlled port of Jose this month, up to Friday, according to preliminary data from shipping reports and vessel movements tracked by Bloomberg. They carried almost 880,000 barrels a day of crude oil, up from an average of 586,000 barrels a day in November. The activity at Jose comes two days after the US seized a tanker transporting Venezuelan crude, despite the prospect that the Trump administration may snatch more ships.

The seizure formed part of a pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, aiming to deny him oil revenue and force him to relinquish power. The test now is whether those ships will be willing to leave Venezuelan waters and risk seizure. At the same time, the US renewed Chevron Corp.’s licence to continue pumping oil in Venezuela, according to sources familiar with the matter. That renewal further underscores the bind the US is putting Maduro in.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi said this week the tanker was intercepted and retained under a seizure warrant. Guyana’s maritime authority said it was falsely flying the country’s flag. The seizure of the sanctioned oil tanker has sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas. Washington is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.