Another day, another Venezuelan oil tanker bites it!

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U.S. Forces Seize Fifth Tanker in Campaign to Track Down Venezuelan Oil

Coast Guard intercepted sanctioned tanker Olina in waters near Venezuela

By Shelby Holliday, Costas Paris and Benoit Faucon, WSJ

Updated Jan. 9, 2026 3:43 pm ET

Videos posted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. Southern Command show the U.S. Coast Guard taking control of the tanker Olina in waters near Venezuela. Photo: U.S. Southern Command

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded a fifth oil tanker, the Olina, as part of an effort to enforce a blockade on sanctioned vessels linked to Venezuela.

The U.S. Coast Guard seized a fifth oil tanker early Friday morning and continued to eye other vessels trying to evade the U.S. blockade on sanctioned tankers traveling to and from Venezuela, according to U.S. officials.

The tanker targeted Friday was the Olina, said the officials and Vanguard, a shipping security and tracking company. The ship, previously named the Minerva M, was sanctioned by the U.S. for its role in transporting Russian oil. The move is likely to inflame tensions between Washington and Moscow days after the U.S. seized a ship that claimed Russian protection and was being escorted by the Russian Navy.

The ship has an East Timor flag, and the last time it transmitted its position was in mid-November near the coast of Venezuela, according to Marine Traffic, a global ship-tracking service, which added that it was sailing under a false flag.

A U.S. official said the crew didn’t resist.

“The ghost fleets will not outrun justice. They will not hide under false claims of nationality,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a social-media post announcing the action.

The Coast Guard, supported by the Marines and other military personnel, launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to board the ship, according to the U.S. military’s Southern Command.

The Olina loaded 700,000 barrels of Merey crude from Venezuela’s Jose terminal on Dec. 24, according to Kpler, a shipping analytics and data firm. Equasis, a European Union database, lists its owner as Hong-Kong company Tantye Peur Ltd.

President Trump posted on social media that the seized tanker left Venezuela without U.S. approval. “This tanker is now on its way back to Venezuela, and the oil will be sold through the GREAT Energy Deal, which we have created for such sales.”

The seizures are being used by the Trump administration to exert pressure on Venezuela’s interim government and take the so-called dark fleet of tankers out of operation. The dark fleet, also known as the shadow fleet, comprises more than 1,000 ships that engage in deceptive activities to conceal their role in transporting sanctioned and illicit oil.

The Venezuela blockade is “the reason why we understand and believe that we have the strongest leverage possible,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the U.S. seized two tankers earlier in the week.

About 70% of Venezuela’s oil exports rely on sanctioned vessels to get around crippling U.S. sanctions on its oil industry. Russia, Iran and Venezuela have amassed an armada of aging tankers to move barrels around the world.

The moves to seize tankers are also meant to signal to Russia, China and Iran that they shouldn’t ally themselves with Caracas or flout U.S. sanctions. The U.S. has delivered the message to Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, that her government must now side with Washington and wind down relations with U.S. adversaries, officials said.

The U.S. Navy has kept several warships near South America to support the boarding of ships. The Justice Department is also dedicating more resources to the seizures and has ramped up the pace and volume of its work in recent weeks, indicating more seizures could come.

The tanker tension threatens to further complicate relations between Washington and Moscow. Russia has been concerned by U.S. seizures of tankers that ferry its illicit oil around the world, and has made the unusual move of allowing dark-fleet oil tankers near Venezuela to register in Russia without an inspection or other formalities, shipping analysts and legal experts say.

The flare-up comes as Washington and Moscow have engaged in diplomatic wrangling on Ukraine. Russia has yet to accept a peace framework the U.S. and Ukraine have put forward.

Earlier this week, Moscow sent Navy ships to escort the tanker known as Bella 1 as the U.S. military tracked it across the Atlantic Ocean. Two Russian aircraft also flew over the Coast Guard vessel that was part of that mission, according to Coast Guard Acting Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday.

In response, the Pentagon sent special forces and firepower to support the boarding and seizure of the Bella 1, including AC-130J military planes and P-8 Poseidon “submarine hunter” aircraft, according to U.S. officials.

“We were working very closely with the department of war,” Lunday told ABC News on Thursday. “At no time was the Coast Guard concerned at all about Russian military presence interfering with our legal authority and our operation that was ongoing.”