Satellite images suggest seized tanker 'deliberately' manipulated location data

[ad_1] An ABC Information evaluation of satellite tv for pc imagery and monitoring knowledge reveals the oil tanker seized by the US off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday might have manipulated its location knowledge -- an obvious try, specialists stated, to avoid restrictions imposed by sanctions.

The crude oil tanker, named the "The Skipper," in keeping with 4 folks acquainted with the operation, was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2022.

Digital broadcast indicators emitted from the vessel’s transponder and tracked by analytics firm Kpler positioned the Skipper close to Guyana’s offshore between November and December. Nevertheless, greater than a dozen satellite tv for pc photographs verified by ABC Information confirmed Skipper was the truth is working in waters off the coast of Barcelona, Venezuela, round 550 miles away throughout this similar interval.

Over a dozen satellite tv for pc Photographs present The Skipper off the coast of Barcelona, Venezuela from October thirtieth to December 4th, 2025.

TankerTrackers.com/Copernicus Sentinel/Felt Maps

Citing a "sample of deliberate obfuscation," Dimitris Ampatzidis, a senior threat and compliance supervisor at Kpler, advised ABC Information the allegedly "spoofed indicators" point out "a broader sample of sanctions evasion logistics."

Satellite tv for pc imagery captured by two suppliers seems to point out the Skipper loading barrels of crude at Venezuela’s José Oil Terminal on Nov. 14, adopted by a 3rd sighting there by Planet Labs on Nov. 18.

A satellite tv for pc picture reveals the Skipper at José oil terminal off the coast of Barcelona, Venezuela on November 14 , 2025.

Planet Labs PBC

A picture taken by TankerTrackers.com, a company that screens world oil transport, additionally reveals the Skipper on the José oil terminal in an identical time interval.

Satellite tv for pc photographs captured the Skipper repeatedly off the coast of Barcelona between Oct. 30 and Dec. 4, as its sign was allegedly being spoofed.

A photograph of the Skipper off the coast of Barcelona, Venezuela round November 2025.

TankerTrackers.com

In an announcement to ABC Information, Matt Smith, an analyst at Kpler, confirmed in mid-November that the vessel "covertly" loaded "1.1 million barrels of heavy bitter Merey crude" with out its transponder switched on.

Smith famous the Skipper had beforehand engaged in what he stated was "darkish exercise," a reference to ships working with out their transponder switched on.

The route of the Skipper all year long of 2025 in keeping with its transponder knowledge.

Marine Visitors/Felt Maps/TankerTrackers.com

In an in depth evaluation of satellite tv for pc imagery from February 2025, TankerTrackers.com recognized the Skipper’s actions off the coast of Iran and China from March to September.

The positioning estimates that the Skipper carried 1.87 million barrels of oil from Iran to China in February of this yr, and one other 1.95 million barrels once more from Iran to China in July of this yr.

The tanker was noticed off the coast of Madagascar in October, earlier than making its method throughout the Atlantic Ocean.

It was noticed once more north of Trinidad and approaching Venezuela on Oct. 29, earlier than spending over a month off the coast of Barcelona.

Satellite tv for pc photographs present the Skipper because it headed from Asia towards Venezuela.

TankerTrackers.com/Copernicus Sentinel/Felt Maps

In keeping with knowledge from MarineTraffic, a vessel monitoring platform owned by Kpler, the Skipper's registered proprietor is Triton Navigation Company; its helpful proprietor is listed as Thomarose International Ventures. Triton Navigation, together with the Skipper, then referred to as Adisa, was the topic of U.S. sanctions in 2022 for alleged ties to Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Pressure.