What are the 'ghost ships' Venezuela is using to evade oil sanctions?

December 17, 2025

President Trump has ordered a naval blockade to prevent sanctioned oil tankers from entering or leaving Venezuela, targeting a growing "ghost fleet" that helps the country evade US oil sanctions imposed since 2019. These ghost ships employ sophisticated evasion tactics including frequently changing names and flags, disabling tracking systems, stealing identities from scrapped vessels, and conducting ship-to-ship transfers in international waters to disguise oil origins. Despite sanctions initially cutting Venezuelan oil exports in half, the country has partially recovered its export levels to around 920,000 barrels per day by using these deceptive shipping practices.

Who is affected

Venezuela and the government of Nicolás Maduro
Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA
Companies and nations buying oil from sanctioned countries (Venezuela, Russia, Iran)
Major shipping companies
China (receiving Venezuelan oil exports)
Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah (allegedly financed through the smuggling network)
Russian oil tycoon Viktor Artemov
Countries used as flag registries (Panama, Comoros, Malta)
Chevron (authorized to operate in Venezuela)

What action is being taken

President Trump has ordered a naval blockade of sanctioned oil tankers going into and out of Venezuela
The US seized an oil tanker (The Skipper) off the coast of Venezuela on December 10
The USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier is deployed in Caribbean waters as part of a massive US military deployment
Ghost fleet tankers are conducting ship-to-ship cargo transfers in waters off western Venezuela
Twenty-four tankers are operating with their mandatory location signals deactivated

Why it matters

The ghost fleet operations demonstrate that US sanctions against Venezuela are not working as intended, with oil exports recovering from 495,000 barrels per day in 2019 to 920,000 barrels per day by November. This matters because Venezuela relies heavily on oil revenues to finance government spending, and the country possesses the world's largest proven oil reserves. The phenomenon has expanded globally, with one in five oil tankers worldwide now estimated to be smuggling oil from sanctioned countries, undermining the effectiveness of international sanctions as a foreign policy tool. The situation also raises concerns about maritime safety and transparency, as aging vessels with disabled tracking systems operate outside regulatory oversight.

What's next

Given the deployment of the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier and the massive US military presence in Caribbean waters, Maduro's ability to rely on the ghost fleet is likely to be significantly curtailed.

Read full article from source: BBC