At least 34 U.S.-sanctioned oil tankers with a history of carrying Venezuelan oil are currently at sea in the Caribbean, according to a new analysis obtained by CNBC on Wednesday.
And at least 12 of those tankers appear to be filled with crude oil from Venezuela, according to vessel location data from Kpler, a global trade intelligence company.
One of the tankers, Skipper, was seized by the U.S. forces in the Caribbean last week and was being taken to the United States.
Kpler provided the analysis a day after President Donald Trump vowed to impose a “complete and total blockade” on sanctioned oil tankers moving in and out of Venezuela. Trump also deemed the nation’s ruling Maduro regime a foreign terrorist organization.
The U.S. is expected to block only sanctioned tankers carrying oil from Venezuela, not similar vessels that have other nations’ crude, including oil from Iran and Russia, according to Kpler.
