Tankers loaded with Venezuelan crude and fuel that left the country’s waters in recent days are sailing in international waters without a known flag or ship safety documentation in place, shipping data showed.
The location of the vessels is unknown since they left Venezuelan waters.
All commercial ships have to be registered, or flagged, with a country partly to comply with safety and environmental regulations.
Ship classification societies provide safety services such as checking that ships are seaworthy, and this certification is essential for securing insurance and entry into ports.
U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a blockade of all sanctioned tankers bound for Venezuela in mid-December, before the dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. troops in the early hours of Saturday.
The ships have sailed despite Trump saying on Saturday that an oil embargo remained in full force after Maduro’s extraction.
(Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Marianna Parraga; editing by Tomasz Janowski)
Photograph: Evana, an oil tanker, is docked at El Palito port in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
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