Russian Tanker Decided To Test Trump's Oil Blockade
6- 20.12.2025, 12:59
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A shady navy vessel has arrived in Venezuela.
A tanker under U.S. sanctions from Russia's "shadow" navy arrived at a Venezuelan port after President Donald Trump declared an oil blockade on Venezuela, writes The Agency.
Trump announced the blockade on Wednesday. At the time, the tanker Hyperion was near Grenada, according to ship tracking services. The tanker, which left Murmansk in late November, entered Venezuelan waters Thursday evening and anchored Friday afternoon in the port of Amuay, home to Venezuela's largest oil refinery complex.
It is still unclear whether the tanker will leave port after unloading.
Hyperion, previously hit by U.S. sanctions for transporting Russian oil, could be the first ship to test Trump's naval blockade of Venezuela, according to Bloomberg.
What can the U.S. do? Even before the blockade was announced, U.S. authorities seized the oil tanker Skipper off the coast of Venezuela, landing 20 Coast Guard personnel, Marines and special forces fighters aboard it from helicopters. The vessel was under sanctions. According to the U.S., the tanker was involved in the Iranian oil trade, which generated revenue for Iranian groups recognized as terrorist organizations.
The U.S. can only seize vessels outside its jurisdiction, or vessels not bound for or from the U.S., if Washington has sanctioned them for links to groups it considers terrorist, David Tannenbaum, a director at consulting firm Blackstone Compliance Services, told Reuters.
Hyperion has come under sanctions for other things. The restrictions imposed against it were aimed at reducing Russia's energy export revenues because of the war in Ukraine, Reuters writes.
"Hyperion has no known links to terrorism, and so unless it can be proven to fall under U.S. jurisdiction, Washington will not be able to seize it outside its territory," according to Tannenbaum, who previously worked for the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Other vessels in the "shadow" fleet. Another vessel carrying Russian energy products and under sanctions for doing so, the tanker Agate, changed its course on Friday. Instead of the Caribbean, it is now heading toward Africa.
The Oman-flagged vessel Garnet, also under sanctions and loaded at the port of Vysotsk, continued its journey toward the Caribbean.
Context. This week, Donald Trump announced a naval blockade of Venezuela. Judging by the US president's post, it only concerns vessels that have fallen under sanctions. In this way, Trump is trying to deprive Venezuela's president of oil revenues as part of his plan to remove him from power.
Russia supplies Venezuela, a petroleum feedstock used to dilute Venezuela's tarry crude oil to make it suitable for refineries.
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