Oil tankers divert from Venezuela after Trump threatens 'total blockade' of sanctioned ships
Source: The Independent
Wednesday 17 December 2025 17:01 EST
Some oil tankers have changed course away from Venezuela after President Donald Trump threatened a “blockade” of sanctioned ships entering or leaving the South American country.
Trump said Tuesday on social media, in all caps, that he is ordering a "total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers” into and out of Venezuela, a move that threatens to choke off revenue from the world's largest oil reserves that are key to Maduro's grip on power. It’s not clear exactly what Trump meant by his threats.
U.S. sanctions adopted during his first administration makes it illegal for Americans to purchase Venezuela’s crude oil without a license from the Treasury Department.
Additionally, hundreds of ships themselves have been sanctioned — part of a massive shadow fleet of often aging vessels that has proliferated in recent years to transport oil on behalf of Iran, Russia, Venezuela and other U.S. adversaries under sanctions.
Read more: https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/blockade-sanctioned-oil-tankers-trump-venezuela-b2886649.html
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and expensive to both extract and refine, and that this means the somewhat low oil prices he's so proud of (which is actually more because everyone's too broke to buy it than because of any great thing he's done) make Venezuela's huge reserves undesirable to the oil execs he was hoping would line up to line his pockets for the "privilege" to plunder the unimaginable booty that HE (and HE ALONE!!!) has bestowed upon them all!
Or wait ... maybe nobody HAS?!? 
