Four Geopolitical Flashpoints Energy Markets Cannot Ignore in 2026
Oil Tankers Exit Venezuela Under Cover of Darkness Despite U.S. Blockade
Opposers of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wave Venezuelan flags in support of the general strike at the oil tanker Pilin Leon (back), anchored in Lake Maracaibo, Venezeula, 13 December, 2002, some 500 km (310 miles) west of Caracas. As Venezuela’s volatile conflict led to a US call for early elections, Chavez raised the ante 13 December, threatening to import staff to replace strikers who have paralyzed the vital oil sector. AFP PHOTO (Photo by AFP) (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)
January 05, 2026
Venezuela has shipped out about a dozen oil tankers carrying crude and petroleum products in recent days, with vessels departing in dark mode, TankerTrackers.com said on Monday.
All these tankers that have stealthily left Venezuela have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury, according to TankerTrackers.com data cited by Reuters.
The dozen or so departures have taken place despite the U.S. blockade off Venezuela, which is aimed at preventing sanctioned tankers from going to and from the South American country.
It was not immediately clear if these tankers have left Venezuela in defiance of the U.S. blockade.
Venezuela has cleared in recent days at least four very large crude carriers (VLCC), or supertankers capable of carrying about 2 million barrels of oil each, to leave the country, a source familiar with the schedule told Reuters on Monday.
Meanwhile, the United States is set to keep the blockade offshore Venezuela even after it captured Nicolas Maduro and flew him to face drug-related charges in New York.
The United States will keep what it calls an oil quarantine on Venezuela. According to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, this quarantine is as far as the U.S. “running Venezuela” would go.
“We have a quarantine on their oil. That means their economy will not be able to move forward until the conditions that are in the national interest of the United States and the interests of the Venezuelan people are met,” Rubio told ABC in an interview on Sunday.
“So that leverage remains, that leverage is ongoing, and we expect that it’s going to lead to results here. We’re hope so – hopeful that it does – positive results for the people of Venezuela, but ultimately, most importantly, for us in the national interest of the United States,” the U.S. Secretary of State said.
The U.S. so-called oil quarantine amounts to a blockade on oil tanker traffic, which has disrupted Venezuela’s oil industry to such an extent that state oil firm PDVSA had to start shutting down wells because it ran out of storage space for the crude it was producing.
Oilprice.com
