US again seizes oil tanker off coast of Venezuela

The United States "apprehended" an oil tanker off Venezuela on Dec. 20, a move Caracas deemed a "theft and kidnapping," in the latest salvo of a pressure campaign by Washington, the U.S. government said.

It was the second time in two weeks that U.S. forces have interdicted a tanker in the region and comes days after President Donald Trump announced a blockade of "sanctioned oil vessels" heading to and leaving Venezuela.

"In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the U.S. Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela," U.S. Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem said in a post on X.

The post was accompanied by a nearly eight-minute video of aerial footage that showed a helicopter hovering just above the deck of a large tanker at sea.

Caracas slammed the seizure as theft and kidnapping, saying "those responsible for these serious events will answer to justice and to history for their criminal conduct."

A post from Homeland Security identified the vessel as the Centuries and said it was "suspected of carrying oil subject to U.S. sanctions."

Centuries is a Chinese-owned, Panama-flagged oil tanker, according to TankerTrackers, an online service monitoring oil shipments and storage.

It said that Centuries loaded 1.8 million barrels of crude oil at a Venezuelan port earlier this month before being escorted out of Venezuela's exclusive economic zone on Dec. 18.