A 1,000-vessel “dark fleet” of rogue oil tankers has emerged as a new target for the U.S. and Ukraine, a senior maritime intelligence analyst states.
Michelle Wiese Bockmann warned that this aging fleet presents geopolitical risks and threats of $1 billion oil spills, with recent U.S. seizures in Venezuela and Ukrainian drone strikes in the Black Sea marking a turning point in both nations’ efforts.
“There are approximately 1,000 vessels globally involved in trading sanctioned crude oil, carrying oil from sanctioned Iranian, Venezuelan, and Russian sources,” Bockmann told Digital.
“These vessels are a lifeline for these regimes, as they are used to ship oil that funds the war in Ukraine and provides revenue to the illicit Maduro regime,” she added.
“This is a brand-new challenge for the U.S., and now Ukraine has indicated it will target these vessels in the same manner,” she said. “A new strategy is being employed to address this dark fleet, which serves as the lifeline for sanctioned oil revenues and is now under attack by the U.S. and Ukraine. The strategy aims to counter what we refer to as .”
Recent Ukrainian naval drone strikes have disabled several tankers in the Black Sea, including the Dashan, part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet that Ukraine says assists Moscow in exporting oil in defiance of sanctions, .
“It is hazardous and could be seen as a form of gray-zone aggression aimed at sustaining the flow of oil revenue,” Bockmann said.
“This entire situation is a billion-dollar oil spill catastrophe waiting to occur,” she added, highlighting the risks posed by poorly maintained, uninsured ships.
She noted that a subset of “around 350 to 400 vessels at any given time are not only sanctioned but also flying false flags, which is dangerous,” as false registration leaves vessels stateless and uninsured, endangering crews.
“This is a significant concern for maritime safety, a threat to the environment, and impacts crew welfare,” Bockmann said.
These vessels, she explained, are typically “old” and used exclusively for . Many also “manipulate AIS” to show they are in one location while actually being elsewhere.
“They engage in false flagging, as well as spoofing and manipulating their AIS to appear in a different place than they are. These vessels have also registered with that do not exist, meaning they have no insurance,” she said. “Their seaworthiness certificates are invalid, and they rely on international maritime conventions for the ‘right of innocent passage’ to avoid interception.”
Bockmann stated that U.S. forces have utilized legal tools, including Article 110 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea—which permits boarding of stateless vessels—to halt these ships.
“I believe they invoked Article 110, boarded the vessel, and were fully entitled to remove it from global trade,” she said.
, U.S. forces recently seized the tanker Skipper—sanctioned in 2022 and found to be masking its location—under a federal warrant as part of a broader campaign to disrupt illicit oil shipping.
“The recent Venezuelan tanker was carrying 1.8 million barrels of uninsured oil, making it a billion-dollar maritime disaster waiting to happen,” Bockmann said.
As reported by Digital, on Dec. 12, Attorney General framed the U.S. seizure of a Venezuelan crude tanker as a sanctions-enforcement action based on a federal court warrant.
Meanwhile, in the Black Sea, Ukraine targeted multiple alleged “shadow fleet” tankers with sea drones, according to Reuters.
“The three tankers targeted by Ukraine were all in ballast, meaning they were not carrying oil,” Bockmann said.
“This was a deliberate choice, and they were also falsely flagged, similar to the recent case of the three tankers attacked in Ukraine. The flag used was Gambia. In the U.S. case of the Skipper, the flag was Guyana,” Bockmann said.
Digital’s Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.