‘Spoof’ ship: Seized oil tanker Skipper hid location data, visited Iran and Venezuela

The big crude oil tanker that U.S. forces seized on Wednesday off the coast of Venezuela since 2024 has shown a “clear pattern” of spoofing its location to hide where it actually was, according to a leading energy consulting firm.

And data suggests that the Guyana-flagged tanker identified as “Skipper” since 2022 has carried sanctioned oil from Iran and Venezuela.

The oil industries of both nations are under U.S. sanctions, and Skipper has been under sanction by the Office of Foreign Assets Control since 2022.

Matt Smith, head U.S. analyst at the consulting firm Kpler said Skipper was covertly loaded with 1.1 million barrels of oil in mid-November.

Smith said the ship appeared to be headed for Cuba, though it has been stopped offshore Venezuela since it was loaded.

In the past two years, there have been a total of more than 80 days in which there is evidence of Skipper engaging in so-called AIS spoofing to obscure its location, according to Kpler data.

AIS, or automatic identification system data, provides real-time information about a ship’s location and includes the vessel’s name, course, speed, classification, call sign, and registration number, according to the U.S. Coast Guard’s website.

During the time that the Skipper’s real location was hidden on the AIS network, there were multiple ship-to-ship transfers of cargo, according to Kpler data.

The Skipper displayed “a clear pattern of deceptive operations that went far beyond what its AIS transmissions claimed,” said Dimitris Ampatzidis, Kpler’s manager for risk and compliance.

In 2024, three AIS spoofings by the Skipper were recorded in Egypt, Iran, the Mediterranean Sea, Ghana, and Nigeria, according to Kpler.

“Falisified positions were broadcast, particularly through extended AIS spoofing episodes,” said Ampatzidis. “The Skipper engaged in activities entirely inconsistent with its declared voyage, including sanctioned loadings in Iran and Venezuela.

“These behaviours form a coherent picture: a vessel intentionally engineered to operate outside transparency, using digital manipulation and covert logistics to mask sanctioned crude flows under the appearance of normal maritime traffic,” Ampatzidis said.

Port call data from 2025 shows that Skipper transported oil out of the ports of Jose in Venezuela and Kharg Island in Iran, according to Kpler data.

In 2024, port calls for Skipper included Banias Port in Syria and Kharg Island in Iran. And in 2023, Skipper visited the Port of Jose in Venezuela.

The Skipper is owned by Marshall Islands-based Triton Navigation Corp, and the beneficial cargo owner, vessel manager, and operator is Nigeria-based Thomarose Global Ventures Ltd., according to Kpler data.

Triton Navigation has been on the OFAC sanctions list since November 2022.

“I believe that the purpose of seizing a sanctioned oil tanker is to make oil buyers and tanker owners operating in the shadow fleet wary of loading Venezuelan crude oil,  reducing the Maduro government’s revenues and ultimately hastening his exit,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates. 

“With oil prices hovering below $60 per barrel, it would appear the administration is not too worried about losing Venezuelan oil supplies to the market; there is plenty of oil around,” Lipow said.

“On the other hand, China would be unhappy losing access to deeply discounted oil supplies.”

The seizure came as President Donald Trump has ramped up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump has said that Maduro’s “days are numbered.”