Seizure of 'Ghost Ship' Tanker Skipper Marks Escalation in Sanctions Enforcement
On December 10, 2025, President Trump announced the seizure of the tanker Skipper, which was secretly ferrying Venezuelan crude oil in defiance of existing sanctions. The vessel is part of a clandestine fleet of about 1,000 tankers, nicknamed 'ghost ships,' that use tactics such as flying foreign flags, registering under shell companies, changing names, disabling transponders, and transferring cargo mid-sea to mask the origin of oil and evade sanctions enforcement.
The White House stated that the seized oil will be kept off the coast of Venezuela as part of a forfeiture process. Investigators are currently on the Skipper gathering evidence and interviewing individuals onboard. Analysts interpret this seizure as a strategic move to disrupt critical oil revenues that sustain sanctioned regimes in Moscow, Tehran, and Caracas. This action is being described as an opening salvo that may be followed by additional measures aimed at cutting off such funding.
In a related incident, the 19-year-old tanker Eventin, formerly known as Charvi and Storviken and flagged in Panama, was seized by German authorities in the Baltic Sea after experiencing engine failure while transporting about 99,000 tons of Russian oil, valued at roughly $45 million.
China remains a significant player in this context as the leading importer of Iranian oil and the second-largest buyer of Russian crude, with much of this trade reportedly routed through the ghost-ship fleet. The ongoing efforts to intercept illicit oil shipments represent an escalating quiet war at sea to enforce sanctions against regimes in Iran, Russia, and Venezuela.
