The Growing Challenge the 'Ghost Fleet' Poses to Illegal Sanctions

By Misión Verdad – Jun 4, 2025

Venezuelan oil exports have remained stable through May 2025, despite increased pressure by the US empire.

According to vessel tracking data published by Reuters this Tuesday, June 3, some 30 vessels departed from Venezuelan ports the previous month, carrying an average of 779,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil and refined products, as well as 291,000 metric tons of derivatives and petrochemicals.

Although this figure is slightly less compared to the 783,000 bpd recorded in April—a marginal reduction of just 4,000 bpd—it is part of a strategic reconfiguration of Venezuelan oil trade.

The decline in shipments to the US empire was offset by a marked increase in shipments via Asia, particularly to China, amid a progressive decline in authorized sales by Washington.

The gradual detachment of the US entity’s market as a destination for Venezuelan oil has been met with a proactive market diversification strategy. China has emerged as the main destination for this strategy, receiving 584,000 bpd in May, compared to 521,000 bpd in April.

In contrast, the US empire received just 140,000 bpd, a slight increase from 130,000 barrels per day the previous month, but far from the volumes handled during the full term of Chevron’s license.

At the same time, scheduled trade with European players such as Switzerland’s Vitol and France’s Maurel & Prom—which operate as a joint venture in Venezuela—remained steady, a relationship that demonstrates the persistence, even under restrictions, of authorized or “tolerated” forms of trade within the sanctions framework.

Venezuela, in turn, significantly increased its imports of heavy naphtha, a key input for diluting the extra-heavy crude from the Hugo Chávez Orinoco Oil Belt. Imports rose from 94,000 bpd in April to 159,000 bpd in May, indicating an effort to secure export flows amid potential logistical or contractual disruptions with Western suppliers.

This trade dynamic is accompanied by a logistics phenomenon that has been consolidating in recent years: the emergence and expansion of the so-called “ghost fleet,” also known as the “dark fleet.”

These are vessels that deactivate their AIS tracking systems, operate under flags of convenience, or are registered in opaque jurisdictions, in order to evade illicit sanctions imposed by the US empire and its partners. In 2023, there were nearly 7,500 tankers in the global fleet, of which more than 1,600 had participated in transporting sanctioned oil.

Between May 13 and 25, 2025, the number of active tankers of this type grew from 1,172 to 1,223, according to data from the specialized portal TankerTrackers.com. Of these vessels, 576 are sanctioned by the US empire, 330 sanctioned by the European Union, and 263 sanctioned by the United Kingdom. Despite this, they continue regular operations in ports of China, India, and other Global South countries that maintain strategic energy relations with Venezuela, regardless of pressure from the US entity and its colonial allies.

This phenomenon is another manifestation of the transformation of the global oil market under sanctions. 61% of the world’s crude oil is transported by sea. When certain routes are restricted by coercive measures, the market reacts by adapting its mechanisms: logistics chains are redrawn, new maritime corridors emerge, and players diversify.

According to data provided by Venezuelan Vice President and Minister of Hydrocarbons Delcy Rodríguez, 26% of the world’s daily oil production is the target of unilateral sanctions, primarily US imperial sanctions.

Countries like Russia have acquired hundreds of foreign-flagged vessels to secure exports; Iran has perfected offshore transshipment operations; and Venezuela has persuaded a growing number of legally insured tankers to accept reputational or legal risks to keep trade flowing.

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This reorganization has increased costs: higher freight rates, high insurance premiums, and legal risks associated with transporting and financing sanctioned crude. However, it has also fostered new intermediaries, shipbrokers, and insurers, primarily throughout Asia, occupying space previously dominated by London and New York.

In short, the more attempts are made to restrict access to the global market for certain producing countries, the more the processes of creating alternatives accelerate, with a tendency to become systemic.

Illegal sanctions have failed to paralyze hydrocarbon trade, and have instead stimulated a reconfiguration of the international energy ecosystem, consolidating a new trade network that openly challenges the dollar-centric architecture of global control and the Western monopoly on insurance, ports, and routes.

(Misión Verdad)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/AU