BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — U.S. Coast Guard personnel boarded the Panama-flagged oil tanker Centuries early Saturday in international waters east of Barbados after it departed Venezuela with crude bound for China, U.S. officials said. Washington says the Venezuela tanker seizure enforces President Donald Trump’s blockade of sanctioned tankers, but Venezuela called it a “serious act of international piracy” and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva warned an “armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe,” Dec. 21, 2025.
Venezuela tanker seizure: what happened to the Centuries
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the Coast Guard intercepted a tanker that had last docked in Venezuela, vowing to keep pursuing the “illicit movement of sanctioned oil.” She added: “We will find you, and we will stop you,” according to a Reuters account of the operation.
Venezuela’s government said it will ask the U.N. Security Council and other bodies to take up the case, accusing U.S. forces of hijacking a private ship and the “forced disappearance” of its crew. Reuters cited British maritime risk firm Vanguard as saying the ship was believed to be the Centuries and that it was intercepted east of Barbados in the Caribbean Sea.
How far the action went — an inspection, diversion or full seizure — remains unclear publicly. The Associated Press reported that a U.S. official described the episode as a “consented boarding,” and that a maritime historian said the vessel appeared properly registered in shipping databases even if its cargo was likely subject to sanctions.
The Venezuela tanker seizure is also raising legal questions in Washington. The Washington Post reported that former Treasury sanctions investigator Jeremy Paner questioned the legal grounding and that officials cited a maritime “right of visit” rationale after Panama granted permission to board.
Reuters reported the tanker was carrying about 1.8 million barrels of Venezuelan Merey crude bound for China and had used “shadow fleet” tactics, including loading under another name, “Crag.” The boarding followed the Dec. 10 seizure of another tanker, the Skipper, and came days after Trump ordered a “total and complete” blockade of sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela.
Venezuela tanker seizure draws Lula’s warning
Lula’s warning landed as Mercosur leaders met in southern Brazil amid rising regional alarm over the U.S. pressure campaign. Reuters reporting on Lula’s remarks said he called an “armed intervention” a potential “humanitarian catastrophe,” and summit leaders urged peaceful efforts to support democracy and human rights in Venezuela.
Earlier cases that shaped the Venezuela tanker seizure debate
In August 2020, the United States said it confiscated four Iranian fuel shipments bound for Venezuela, an episode described in a 2020 Reuters report.
Al Jazeera’s coverage of the 2020 case highlighted U.S. claims that ship owners were pressured through sanctions threats rather than a military seizure.
For now, the latest Venezuela tanker seizure is headed toward international scrutiny as shippers reassess the risks of moving Venezuelan crude through the Caribbean.
