Venezuela Uses Ghost Tankers to Evade U.S. Sanctions and Send Oil to Cuba - REPORT

While the U.S. is blowing up small vessels in the Caribbean, accusing Venezuela of using them to send drugs to the U.S., a new report affirms that the government of Nicolás Maduro is using a clandestine network of oil tankers to bypass U.S. sanctions and maintain crude shipments to Cuba.

According to a detailed investigation by ABC España published Monday October 20, there is a growing "ghost fleet" of vessels, often flagged in Comoros, Liberia, or Panama, operating without Western insurance, with manipulated GPS data, and using ship-to-ship transfers to obscure their routes. These ships are allegedly transporting Venezuelan oil to Cuban ports or offloading at sea before continuing to Asia, primarily to China, despite embargoes and restrictions.

ABC cites data indicating that in the last month alone, a single Cuban-flagged tanker was tracked moving over 300,000 barrels of crude from Venezuela. This contrasts sharply with the 52,000 barrels per day registered by Reuters in September, suggesting a large portion of exports are not being reported through conventional tracking systems.

The revelations come amid renewed geopolitical tension, with U.S. military forces increasing their presence in the Caribbean. Although Venezuela's oil production has rebounded to over 1 million barrels per day, the highest since 2020, domestic fuel shortages persist. Caracas appears to be prioritizing deliveries to Havana, its closest political ally, rather than addressing internal supply needs.

According to the report, Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is now heavily dependent on third-party shipping firms operating from jurisdictions like the UAE and the Seychelles. One such company, Asia Charm Limited FTZ, reportedly controls a fleet of at least 13 tankers involved in high-risk trades.

Transparency Venezuela, an anti-corruption NGO, documented that out of 110 tankers operating near Venezuelan waters in September, 47 were irregular and 12 were already sanctioned by the U.S., U.K., or EU.

Some of the tankers in use were previously decommissioned or destined for scrap. One so-called "zombie tanker," the Champ, ran aground in Pakistan in 2013 but resurfaced this year transporting Venezuelan crude. Another, the Cape Balder, presumed scrapped three years ago, was tracked delivering oil to Amuay refinery terminals multiple times between May and June.

The ABC report underscores Venezuela's increasing reliance on opaque logistics to maintain its political alliances and oil revenue streams, even as U.S. sanctions remain in place. The extent to which Cuba pays for these shipments remains unclear.