US has moved to assert strict control over the production and sale of Venezuelan oil since attacking the country this month.
Published On 21 Jan 2026
The United States military announced that it has seized a seventh Venezuela-linked oil tanker, as the US tightens its control over the production and sale of the country’s considerable oil resources.
US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which oversees military operations in Latin America, said on Tuesday that it captured the Motor Vessel Sagitta as part of its blockade on oil vessels leaving and entering the country.
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“The apprehension of another tanker operating in defiance of President Trump’s established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean demonstrates our resolve to ensure that the only oil leaving Venezuela will be oil that is coordinated properly and lawfully,” SOUTHCOM said in a statement.
It added that Tuesday’s tanker seizure occurred “without incident”, sharing a video appearing to show US forces flying towards the vessel and landing on its deck.
The US began seizing sanctioned tankers on December 10, as part of a campaign of increasing pressure on Venezuela.
Tensions between the US and Venezuela came to a peak on January 3, when US President Donald Trump authorised a predawn military operation to abduct his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro.
In the lead-up to that operation, Trump and allies like Stephen Miller had been increasingly vocal about laying claim to Venezuelan oil, given the US’s history of prospecting for petroleum there in the early 20th century.
But by 1971, Venezuela had nationalised its oil industry. Efforts to expropriate assets from foreign oil companies in 2007 have further fuelled criticism from the Trump administration, which considers Venezuelan oil “stolen” from US owners.
Legal experts, however, largely consider such arguments a violation of Venezuelan sovereignty.
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