The organization Transparencia Venezuela published a report on Thursday that exposes the irregularities and illicit networks associated with the tanker Skipper.he oil tanker intercepted on December 10 by US forces in the Caribbean.
The ship was purchased in October 2022 by Triton Navigation Corp, a Nigerian-based shipping company, and later operated by the also Nigerian Thomarose Global Ventures Ltd, according to the investigation of the organization that currently operates from exile.
The Skipper was sailing under the flag of Guyana, although the Guyanese government denies having issued such a registration, which points to a false registration.
Despite being listed as “out of service” since 2024, The ship continued to operate clandestinely on routes associated with the illegal crude oil trade.
A history linked to China, Iran and opaque routes
The vessel, which operated under the name Adisa between 2021 and 2022, primarily served Chinese customers. At the end of 2022, it began sailing without reporting port calls, a typical modality of the so-called “shadow fleets.” that move sanctioned oil.
That same year, the Office of Foreign Assets Control, under the United States Department of the Treasury, included the ship on its sanctions list for violating export bans on Iranian crude oil.
The report reconstructs an irregular and extensive trajectory, based on satellite data and tracking records. Its oldest position was recorded 250 nautical miles southwest of India, on September 12. It was heading towards the Strait of Hormuz, where it arrived on the 18th of that month, sailing in circles for 24 hours until leaving with only ballast (without any cargo) on September 19. From there it sailed around the Arabian Peninsula and the African continent, then crossed the Atlantic until stopping about 100 nautical miles northeast of Guyana on October 28.
It remained there until December 5 at noon (Venezuela time), when it issued its last position before turning off the AIS signal. When it reappeared on December 10, it was heading east, leaving the Caribbean Sea between Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago. In that area he was approached by US military forces.
The Skipper ship was taken in a northeasterly direction, near Saint Lucia, possibly to a United States military operations base in the Caribbean, Transparencia Venezuela indicated.
The Skipper was loaded during its seizure
With a capacity for 2.1 million barrels, The Skipper was sailing fully loaded when it was stoppedaccording to Transparencia Venezuela experts.
The report reveals that the ship is part of an international crude oil trafficking network, where ghost companies, false flags, covert routes, commercialization of sanctioned oil, operations designed to evade control mechanisms and sanctions converge.
The capture of the ship has intensified regional tension and puts even more pressure on the Venezuelan regime, which has described the operation as an act of “international piracy.”
Transparency Venezuela warns that the Skipper case is just a sample of the shadow fleet that operates in the region, a network that has expanded as sanctions and controls against illicit crude oil trade increase.
