US and Ukraine target 1,000-vessel dark fleet of rogue oil tankers

A 1,000-strong ‘darkish fleet’ of rogue oil tankers evading sanctions has turn into a brand new goal for the US and Ukraine, a senior maritime intelligence analyst has claimed.

Michelle Wiese Bockmann warned that the getting older fleet poses geopolitical dangers and the specter of oil spills value $1 billion, with latest US seizures in Venezuela and Ukrainian drone strikes within the Black Sea marking a turning level for each international locations of their efforts.

“There are roughly 1,000 ships worldwide buying and selling sanctioned crude oil tankers containing sanctioned Iranian, Venezuelan and Russian oil,” Bockmann informed Fox Information Digital.

“These ships are a lifeline for these regimes as a result of they’re used to ship oil to finance the warfare in Ukraine, and likewise to provide cash to the unlawful Maduro regime,” she added.

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The US has seized the Skipper, a Venezuelan oil tanker. (Planet Labs PBC/Reuters)

“This can be a model new downside for the US, and now Ukraine has indicated that they will assault these ships in the identical method,” she mentioned. “There’s a new technique to take care of this darkish fleet, which is the lifeline of sanctioned oil revenues, and is now below assault by the US and Ukraine. The technique is all about countering what we name grey zone aggression.”

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White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was requested in regards to the US seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. (Planet Labs PBC/handout by way of Reuters)

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Current drone strikes by the Ukrainian Navy have taken out a number of tankers within the Black Sea, together with the Dashan, a part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, which Ukraine says helps Moscow export oil in defiance of sanctions. according to Reuters.

“It’s harmful and may be interpreted as a type of grey zone aggression to take care of oil revenues,” Bockmann mentioned.

“That is all a billion-dollar oil spill ready to occur,” she added, noting the environmental and navigational dangers related to poorly maintained, uninsured vessels.

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Photographs of the Dashan tanker, reportedly a part of Russia’s shadow fleet struck by Ukraine. (Safety Companies Officer/Handout by way of Reuters)

She mentioned a few of the “about 350 to 400 ships on the similar time are usually not solely being penalized but additionally flying false flags, which is harmful” as a result of false registration leaves ships stateless and uninsured, placing crews in danger.

“This can be a main downside for maritime security, it’s a risk to the setting and it impacts the well-being of the crew,” Bockmann mentioned.

These ships, she mentioned, are sometimes “legacy” and used solely for sanctioned oil transactions. Many additionally manipulate AIS to point out they’re in a single place when they’re truly elsewhere.

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Dashan, a tanker from the Russian Shadow Fleet, sails throughout the Bosphorus on its solution to the Black Sea in Istanbul. (Yoruk Isik/Reuters)

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“They use false flags, but additionally spoof and manipulate the AIS to point out it’s in a single place when it isn’t. These ships have additionally gone to fraudulent registries that don’t exist, that means they haven’t any insurance coverage,” she mentioned. “Their certificates of seaworthiness are invalid, and so they depend on worldwide maritime treaties to have the so-called ‘proper of harmless passage’ in order that they can’t be intercepted.”

Bockmann mentioned U.S. forces have used authorized instruments, together with Article 110 of the United Nations Conference on the Regulation of the Sea, which permits the boarding of stateless ships, to cease them.

“I imagine that they used Article 110, and so they boarded that ship, and so they completely had the proper to take away that ship from world commerce,” she mentioned.

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Legal professional Common Pam Bondi speaks throughout a roundtable on Antifa with President Donald Trump within the State Eating Room of the White Home, Wednesday, October 8, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Within the Caribbean, US forces just lately seized the tanker Skipper, which was sanctioned in 2022 and located to be masking its location, below a federal warrant as a part of a broader marketing campaign to disrupt unlawful oil delivery.

“The latest Venezuelan tanker carried 1.8 million barrels of oil uninsured, in order that’s a billion-dollar maritime catastrophe ready to occur,” Bockmann mentioned.

As reported by Fox Information Digital, Legal professional Common Pam Bondi on December 12 considered the U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan oil tanker as a sanctions enforcement motion rooted in a federal court docket order.

In the meantime, within the Black Sea, Ukraine has attacked a number of so-called “shadow fleet” tankers with naval drones, in keeping with Reuters.

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“The three tankers focused by Ukraine are all in ballast, that means they weren’t carrying oil,” Bockmann mentioned.

“That was rigorously chosen, and so they had been additionally put below a false flag, identical to within the latest case of the three tankers attacked in Ukraine. That flag was Gambia. Within the American case of Skipper, the flag was Guyana,” Bockmann mentioned.

Fox Information Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.