US and Ukraine target 1,000-vessel dark fleet of rogue oil tankers
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A “dark fleet” of 1,000 rogue oil tankers evading sanctions has emerged as a new target for the US and Ukraine, a senior naval intelligence analyst claims.
Michelle Wiese Bockmann warns aging fleet poses geopolitical risks and threat of $1 billion oil spill; The recent U.S. seizure of Venezuela and Ukrainian drone strikes in the Black Sea represent a turning point in efforts for both countries.
“There are approximately 1,000 ships worldwide trading with sanctioned crude tankers containing sanctioned Iranian, Venezuelan and Russian oil,” Bockmann told Fox News Digital.
“These ships are a lifeline for these regimes because they are used to transport oil to finance the war in Ukraine and also provide money to the illegal Maduro regime,” he added.
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The USA seized Venezuela’s oil tanker Skipper. (Planet Laboratories PBC/Reuters)
“This is a whole new problem for the United States, and now Ukraine has signaled that they will target these ships in the same way,” he said. “There is a new strategy to deal with this dark fleet, which is the lifeblood of sanctioned oil revenues and is now under attack from the United States and Ukraine. The whole strategy is to counter what we call gray zone aggression.”
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was questioned about the U.S. seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. (Report via Planet Labs PBC/Reuters)
Ukraine’s latest naval drone strikes have disabled several tankers in the Black Sea, including the Dashan, which is part of Russia’s so-called stay-behind fleet, which Ukraine says helps Moscow export oil despite sanctions. According to Reuters.
“This is dangerous and could be interpreted as a kind of gray zone aggression to keep oil revenue flowing,” Bockmann said.
“This is all a billion-dollar oil spill disaster waiting to happen,” he added, pointing to the environmental and navigational risks posed by neglected, uninsured ships.
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Images of the Dashan tanker, allegedly part of the Russian shadow fleet, shot down by Ukraine. (Security Service Official/Comment via Reuters)
He said that “at any given time a subset of approximately 350 to 400 ships are not only sanctioned but also flying false flags, which is dangerous” because false registration leaves ships stateless and uninsured, putting crews at risk.
“This is a huge challenge for maritime safety, a threat to the environment and the welfare of the crew,” Bockmann said.
He said these ships were generally “old” and used only in approved oil trade. Many “manipulate AIS” to make it seem like they are in one place when they are actually somewhere else.
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Dashan, a tanker belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet, passes through the Bosphorus in Istanbul on its way to the Black Sea. (Yörük Işık/Reuters)
“They use false markings, they also fake and manipulate to make it look like the AIS is not in one place. These ships have also gone for fake registrations that don’t exist, which means they have no insurance,” he said. “Their seaworthiness certificates are invalid and they have relied on international maritime conventions to have the so-called right of innocent passage to avoid capture.”
Bockmann said U.S. forces used legal tools to stop these ships, including Article 110 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which allows boarding stateless ships.
“It is my belief that they invoked Article 110, they got on that ship, and they had every right to remove that ship from global commerce,” he said.
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Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a roundtable on Antifa with President Donald Trump in the White House State Dining Room on Wednesday, October 8, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Evan Vucci/AP)
In the Caribbean, US forces recently seized the Skipper tanker, which was sanctioned in 2022 and found to be concealing its location, under a federal arrest warrant as part of a broader campaign to disrupt illicit oil transportation.
“The last Venezuelan tanker was carrying 1.8 million barrels of oil without insurance, making for a billion-dollar maritime disaster waiting to happen,” Bockmann said.
On Dec. 12, Attorney General Pam Bondi framed the U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan crude tanker as an enforcement action based on a federal court order, Fox News Digital reported.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, Ukraine targeted several alleged “shadow fleet” tankers in the Black Sea with naval drones.
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“The three tankers targeted by Ukraine are all ballasted, which means they are not carrying oil,” Bockmann said.
“This was carefully chosen and, as in the case of the three tankers that were also attacked in Ukraine, they were marked by mistake. That flag was Gambia. In the case of the US Skipper, the flag was Guyana,” Bockmann said.
Fox News Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
