US 'seizing' Venezuela linked tanker in Caribbean marking fifth grab in recent weeks

US forces in the Caribbean are attempting to capture the vessel close to the island of Trinidad, officials have confirmed.

It marks the fifth such seizure by US forces in recent weeks and forms part of Washington’s attempt to control Venezuelan oil exports, a US official said on Friday.

The ship, named the Olina, was falsely flying the flag of Timor Leste according to ship tracking site Equasis.

According to reports, the ship departed a port in Venezuela last week filled to capacity with Venezuelan oil.

On Thursday, two other ships were seized as part of US enforcement action, one of which was sanctioned by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control in both 2021 and 2024 while sailing under the name Tia.

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"The vessel's AIS [location] tracker was last active ‌52 days ago in the Venezuelan EEZ, northeast of Curacao," British maritime risk management ​company Vanguard has said.

"The seizure follows a prolonged pursuit of tankers linked to sanctioned Venezuelan oil shipments ‍in the region." 

Citing an industry source, Reuters reported the vessel is part of a flotilla that departed the country shortly after the US swooped on ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro,

The agency also reports that the US has previously imposed sanctions on the tanker in January last year, when it was named the Minerva M.

This comes just hours after two Russian and Venezuelan-flagged oil tankers were seized by the US and its allies, including with help from the UK.

The seizures were conducted as part of the US Coast Guard's dual operation to seize Venezuela-linked oil tankers in a "meticulously coordinated" operation, US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

The operations, which took place within hours of each other, saw troops board one ship in the North Atlantic Sea and another in international waters near the Caribbean.

The tankers - the Marinera and the Sophia - were "either last docked in Venezuela or en route to it."

Speaking on Wednesday evening, Defence Secretary John Healey told Ministers that while no UK personnel took part in the boarding of the Marinera, its forces supported the operation "at the request of the US".

The hastily reflagged oil tanker was under US military surveillance roughly 250 miles off the coast of Ireland after evading interception in the Caribbean last month, changing its name, and turning north towards Russia.

The vessel, formerly known as Bella 1, has been renamed Marinera, re-registered in Russia, and had a crudely painted Russian flag slapped onto its hull.

The move appears designed to deter a possible US seizure as it approached waters near the British Isles.

The tanker is believed to be one of around a dozen vessels attempting to slip past a US naval blockade targeting Venezuelan oil shipments.

It is not, however, carrying crude from Venezuela.

Last month the US Coast Guard led a raid on The Skipper, a ship used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.

The US says the network of shadow vessels raises funds for 'foreign terrorist organisations', justifying armed US personnel abseiling from helicopters onto the seized tanker.

Flight tracking data shows the Marinera has been closely monitored over the past 48 hours by US Navy P-8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft operating out of RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk.

The aircraft tracked the ship as it crossed the Atlantic on a course that could bring it into Ireland’s exclusive economic zone, around 230 miles from the coast.