As geopolitical tensions rise in the Caribbean and U.S. enforcement escalates — including the recent seizure of the supertanker Skipper — new evidence and expert accounts reveal how the Venezuelan regime systematically circumvents American oil sanctions, generating a multi-billion-dollar shadow economy that thrives precisely because sanctions remain in place.
For Curaçao and the region, where tankers regularly transit nearby waters, understanding this scheme is essential. It explains why sanctioned fleets appear on AIS near our maritime zones, why oil actors linked to Venezuela seek offshore logistical hubs, and why U.S. naval activity has intensified around the ABC Islands.
This Chronicle investigation reconstructs — step by step — how Venezuela sells oil abroad despite U.S. sanctions, and how the opaque system enriches insiders while destabilizing regional security.
Unilateral Sanctions: The Loophole That Enables Evasion
Unlike sanctions imposed by the United Nations, U.S. and EU sanctions against Venezuela are unilateral.
This distinction is crucial:
- UN sanctions are binding on all 193 member states.
- U.S. sanctions are not — meaning countries are free to ignore them, as long as their companies do not depend on the U.S. financial system.
Because of this, the U.S. cannot legally intercept Venezuelan tankers on the high seas unless they violate other maritime laws. Only vessels entering American influence zones — such as waters near Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or near the ABC Islands where the U.S. Navy patrols — face heightened operational risk.
This legal grey area has created an environment where a sophisticated sanctions-evasion industry has flourished.
Inside PDVSA’s Sanctions-Evasion Machine
Step 1: Selling oil at deep discounts
PDVSA, Venezuela’s state oil company, routinely sells crude at steep discounts — sometimes $20 below market value — to compensate traders for the risk of U.S. penalties.
Internal sources describe a common arrangement:
- Official invoice: $40 per barrel
- Real price: $45 or more
- $5 “off-the-books” goes directly to corrupt negotiators inside PDVSA
For a shipment of two million barrels, that side payment is $10 million in personal profit.
This is why insiders prefer sanctions:
No one knows the real market price or the real buyer. Corruption becomes effortless.
Step 2: The “Ghost Fleet” of sanctioned tankers
Venezuela relies on a rogue network of tankers — many previously sanctioned — known as the ghost fleet.
Characteristics of these ships:
- Registered in lax jurisdictions such as Comoros, Palau, Tanzania, or Liberia
- Owned by companies with no U.S. exposure
- Frequently switch names, flags, and IMO numbers
- Often operate with AIS transponders turned off or falsified
- Conduct ship-to-ship transfers offshore to obscure origins
Because they are not violating international maritime law, they cannot be boarded by foreign navies without risking diplomatic escalation.
Step 3: Triangulation Through Brokers and Dummy Companies
Oil rarely moves directly from PDVSA to a major company like China’s CNPC.
Instead:
- A broker in Malaysia, Turkey, or India negotiates the deal.
- PDVSA agrees to place the crude in international waters.
- The broker hires an additional tanker to perform a ship-to-ship transfer (STS).
- Documentation is falsified.
For example:
- Venezuelan crude leaves José terminal.
- The bill of lading falsely lists “Port of Departure: Malaysia” or “Brazil”.
- Crude is blended at sea with non-Venezuelan oil to mask chemical signatures.
- The buyer’s refinery receives paperwork showing the cargo is from another country.
This is why Malaysia mysteriously appears as a major oil supplier to China, despite having limited production capacity.
Step 4: Payment Outside the Dollar System
Once the oil arrives in Asia:
- The buyer pays the broker in yuan, rubles, dirhams, or cryptocurrency.
- The broker transfers the reduced share to PDVSA through offshore banking channels.
- Regime insiders receive their cut through shell companies, money-laundering networks, or cash deliveries.
This criminalized ecosystem is so profitable that key figures inside PDVSA and the government actively resist the lifting of sanctions, because:
- Sanctions create opacity
- Opacity creates opportunity for theft
- The real market cannot operate, so insiders control pricing, documentation, and payment structures
One analyst described it succinctly:
“With sanctions, they set the price, the route, the paperwork, and the method of payment. They pay themselves. They give themselves the change.”
Why This Matters for Curaçao and the Caribbean
Curaçao is located in a critical maritime corridor for Venezuelan oil trafficking. Several factors now elevate the island’s relevance:
1. Increased U.S. interdiction activity
With the recent seizure of the supertanker Skipper, U.S. forces have shown a willingness to act more aggressively at sea.
This could bring covert tanker traffic closer to the ABC Islands, seeking alternate routes.
2. Curaçao’s oil infrastructure
Even inoperational, the refinery and storage terminals remain an attractive asset for future flows — legal or illicit.
3. Machado’s escape via Curaçao
The revelation this week that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado secretly used Curaçao as her exit point underscores:
- our geographic centrality,
- our role in regional geopolitics,
- and the impossibility of full neutrality.
4. Criminal networks spill into the Caribbean
Sanctions evasion relies heavily on:
- shell companies,
- forged documentation,
- money-laundering structures,
- and maritime logistics.
These same networks fuel arms trafficking, narcotics smuggling, illegal migration, and corruption.
Why Corrupt Actors Want Sanctions to Continue
Sanctions hurt the Venezuelan population — but not the political elite.
In fact, they make them richer.
Because when markets go dark, corruption thrives.
- No price transparency
- No public audits
- No corporate oversight
- No international accountability
- No direct payments through regulated banking channels
Combined with the Venezuelan regime’s partnerships with Russia, Iran, and criminal groups, the sanctions-evasion ecosystem becomes a lucrative shadow state.
A Growing Security Challenge for the Caribbean
The ABC Islands — positioned only a few dozen kilometers from Venezuela — risk being drawn into a widening confrontation involving:
- U.S. military presence under Operation Southern Spear
- Venezuelan naval deployments
- Large ghost-fleet tankers navigating near territorial waters
- Growing instability inside Venezuela
- Mass migration pressures
- Competing intelligence interests from Russia, Iran, Cuba, and the U.S.
Regional leaders have already expressed concern that neutrality may not be sustainable.
Conclusion: Sanctions Have Not Stopped Venezuela’s Oil Exports — They Have Transformed Them
What emerges from this investigation is clear:
- Venezuela continues exporting millions of barrels of crude.
- Sanctions have not collapsed the regime — they have made insiders wealthier.
- A sophisticated, multinational sanctions-evasion architecture has developed.
- The Caribbean is now at the center of an escalating geopolitical and economic puzzle.
For Curaçao, understanding this system is no longer optional — it is essential.