{"id":4321,"date":"2025-12-13T05:36:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T05:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/13\/venezuela-oil-exports-fall-steeply-after-us-forces-seize-tanker-off-coast\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T05:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T05:36:13","slug":"venezuela-oil-exports-fall-steeply-after-us-forces-seize-tanker-off-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/13\/venezuela-oil-exports-fall-steeply-after-us-forces-seize-tanker-off-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela oil exports fall steeply after US forces seize tanker off coast"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Oil tanker movements in and out of Venezuelan waters come to near standstill after US seizes vessel and fuel cargo.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Venezuela\u2019s oil exports have plummeted since the United States seized an oil tanker off the country\u2019s coast this week and imposed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/12\/us-sanctions-family-of-venezuelas-maduro-6-oil-tankers-in-new-crackdown\">new sanctions on shipping companies<\/a> doing business with the embattled Latin American country.<\/p>\n<p>Oil tanker movements into and out of Venezuelan waters have almost come to a standstill, the Reuters news agency reported on Friday, after the US announced that it would seize more vessels as part of its <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/opinions\/2025\/12\/12\/the-us-is-already-at-war-with-venezuela\">military pressure<\/a> on Venezuela\u2019s President Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 4 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/12\/maduro-will-leave-power-machado-vows-venezuela-leadership-change\">\u2018Maduro will leave power\u2019: Machado vows Venezuela leadership change<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/quotable\/2025\/12\/12\/anker-seizure-is-us-tactic-to-starve-venezuela-of-cash\">Tanker seizure is US tactic \u201cto starve\u201d Venezuela of cash<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/12\/us-slaps-sanctions-on-maduro-family-venezuelan-tankers-what-we-know\">US slaps sanctions on Maduro family, Venezuelan tankers: What we know<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 4 of 4<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/12\/us-forces-stormed-cargo-ship-travelling-from-china-to-iran-report\">US forces stormed cargo ship travelling from China to Iran: Report<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>The seizure on Wednesday of the Skipper tanker marked the first US capture of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/9\/4\/venezuela-has-the-worlds-most-oil-why-doesnt-it-earn-more-from-exports\">Venezuelan oil cargo<\/a> since Washington imposed sanctions on Caracas in 2019. It also comes amid a US military build-up in the Caribbean, which appears designed to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2025\/12\/5\/opening-pandoras-box-what-happens-if-the-us-attacks-venezuela\">remove Maduro from power.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Threats of more seizures have now left tankers \u2013 loaded with about 11 million barrels of oil and fuel \u2013 stuck in Venezuelan waters and fearing to venture further, according to data and documents reviewed by Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>Only tankers chartered by US oil giant Chevron have left ports and sailed into international waters carrying Venezuelan crude since the seizure of the Skipper, according to Reuters. Chevron has US government authorisation to operate in Venezuela through joint ventures with state-run oil company PDVSA and can export its oil to the US.<\/p>\n<p>Chevron confirmed this week that it was operating in Venezuela \u201cwithout disruption and in full compliance with laws and regulations applicable\u201d, according to Reuters, and had exported two cargoes of Venezuelan heavy crude to the US since the seizure of the Skipper.<\/p>\n<p>As the Skipper was taken to Houston, Texas, on Friday for the unloading of its confiscated fuel cargo, Trump reiterated that the US military will start carrying out strikes on land against drug trafficking targets in Latin America.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the White House, Trump said that US forces \u2013 which have been attacking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean for weeks, killing some 90 people \u2013 had stopped 96 percent of drugs trafficked to the US by water.<\/p>\n<p>The US also claims it is attacking drug trafficking vessels but has provided no evidence, while international law experts say the attacks amount to extrajudicial killings by Washington in international waters.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"trump-says-maduro-s-days-are-numbered\">Trump says Maduro\u2019s \u2018days are numbered\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The Agencia Venezuela News site reported on Friday that Venezuela\u2019s Executive Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, filed a formal complaint with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) denouncing Washington\u2019s \u201cviolation of freedom of navigation in the Caribbean\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Rodriguez told the IMO of the \u201cvulgar robbery\u201d of Venezuelan oil by the US, which was an \u201cinternationally illegal act\u201d,\u00a0 the news agency said. \u201cThe Vice President also reiterated that Washington\u2019s threatening actions are not related to a supposed fight against drug trafficking,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, Trump said in an interview that Maduro\u2019s \u201cdays are numbered\u201d while also declining to rule out a ground invasion of Venezuela by US forces.<\/p>\n<p>Washington has offered a $50m reward for Maduro\u2019s capture, accusing the Venezuelan president of leading the alleged \u201cCartel of the Suns\u201d, which the US has branded a \u201cnarco-terrorist\u201d organisation.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, the US Treasury announced sanctions on three relatives of Maduro and six shipping companies and six vessels involved in transporting Venezuelan oil, a move that could imperil his leadership.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf there are no oil exports, it will affect the foreign exchange market, the country\u2019s imports\u2026 There could be an economic crisis,\u201d Elias Ferrer of Orinoco Research, a Venezuelan advisory firm, told the AFP news agency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot just a recession, but also shortages of food and medicine, because we wouldn\u2019t be able to import,\u201d Ferrer said.<\/p>\n<p>Before the seizure of the oil tanker this week, Venezuela exported some 952,000 barrels per day of crude and fuel in November, with about 80 percent of those shipments sent directly and indirectly to China.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oil tanker movements in and out of Venezuelan waters come to near standstill after US seizes vessel and fuel cargo. Venezuela\u2019s oil exports have plummeted since the United States seized an oil tanker off the country\u2019s coast this week and imposed new sanctions on shipping companies doing business with the embattled Latin American country. Oil &#8230; <a title=\"Venezuela oil exports fall steeply after US forces seize tanker off coast\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2025\/12\/13\/venezuela-oil-exports-fall-steeply-after-us-forces-seize-tanker-off-coast\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Venezuela oil exports fall steeply after US forces seize tanker off coast\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4322,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4321\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}