A vessel tied to a string of evasive moves: from Iran to China to Venezuela, the seized tanker appears to have consistently hidden or distorted its location data to conceal its operations.
Update: US forces carried out a helicopter-led raid off the Venezuelan coast and reportedly captured the ship, which BBC Verify identified as the Skipper by linking footage released by the US with a reference photo from TankerTrackers.com, a site that tracks oil shipments.
Publicly available ship-tracking data offer an incomplete view of the Skipper’s movements and show no declared position since November 7, prior to the raid. An independent analytics firm, Kpler, also indicated the ship may have engaged in a ship-to-ship transfer.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi described the vessel as a crude oil tanker used to move sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. The tanker had been sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2022 when it operated under the name Adisa and was accused of participating in an international oil-smuggling network.
Although the Skipper has flown the Guyana flag, the Guyanese government quickly stated that the tanker was not registered in Guyana and had been falsely flying the flag for years.
Experts contacted by BBC Verify say the Skipper likely belongs to the so-called “dark fleet”—a global network of tankers that mask ownership, identities, and voyage histories to dodge sanctions.
Hiding its position
Under a UN treaty, many ships above a certain size carry an onboard Automatic Identification System (AIS) that broadcasts location and other data, which can be tracked on sites such as MarineTraffic. However, the Skipper’s public record shows gaps and inconsistencies about its movements. MarineTraffic last logged a port call at Soroosh, Iran, on July 9 after stops in Iraq and the UAE, but other sources allege different origins for that call.
Kpler’s analysis suggests a pattern of misrepresented entries by the Skipper. The firm’s analysts say the ship had previously loaded crude from Venezuela and Iran while spoofing its position via the AIS to conceal its true route.
Venezuela, home to massive oil reserves, has faced US sanctions since 2019 aimed at pressuring a political transition. The sanctions complicate the country’s oil trade and have encouraged more opaque shipping practices.
Kpler notes that the AIS indicated the Skipper was at Iraq’s Basrah Oil Terminal on July 7–8, but terminal records did not corroborate that, instead pointing to a loading at Kharg Island, Iran. The vessel then moved east and, between August 11 and 13, appears to have conducted a ship-to-ship transfer, with the cargo later declared as destined for China even though the declaration was considered false.
After this, the Skipper traveled toward the Caribbean and last declared a position on November 7, some miles off Guyana, before vanishing from public tracking until the US raid on December 10.
Satellite imagery cited by TankerTrackers.com and confirmed by BBC Verify shows the Skipper in Venezuela’s Jose port on November 18, even though tracking sites did not reflect it at that time.
Since sanctions tightened, analysts say spoofing or position concealment has become a common tactic for Venezuelan oil shipments as they move crude for export. Kpler estimates the Skipper loaded at least 1.1 million barrels of Merey crude by November 16 at a Venezuelan terminal, with Cuba listed as its destination.
There is evidence of another ship-to-ship transfer near Barcelona, Venezuela, on December 7, just days before the US intercept. Satellite images reviewed by Kpler appear to show the exchange involving the Skipper.
Such sanction-evasion activity is not unusual for Venezuelan oil shipments, according to Kpler, which notes that tankers often perform offloading transfers offshore near Malaysia before the oil is rerouted to China.
Frequent shipowners’ identities and operations
According to MarineTraffic, the Skipper’s beneficial owner and operator are listed as Thomarose Global Ventures Ltd, based in Nigeria, with registered ownership attributed to Triton Navigation Corp, located in the Marshall Islands. In 2022, US authorities linked Triton to sanctioned Russian oil magnate Viktor Artemov, saying it supported a global oil-smuggling network by providing ships or services that facilitated oil transfers from Iran.
BBC Verify has reached out to both Thomarose Global Ventures and Triton Navigation for comment.
Note: The ongoing reporting highlights how sanctions regimes intersect with maritime logistics and how ocean-going cargoes can move through opaque networks. As these practices draw scrutiny, readers may wonder: should there be stricter, more transparent tracking of tanker movements, and what responsibilities do flagged ships bear when their home registries do not align with their declared identity? Share your thoughts in the comments.
