A crude oil tanker flying the Russian flag was seized by United States forces in the North Atlantic, raising questions around a potential crackdown on the global ‘shadow fleet’, at the same time as the US seeks to control Venezuela’s oil industry.
The US said the tanker, which was being escorted by the Russian navy, is part of a shadow fleet that carries oil for Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
The 300-metre-long ship, the Marinera, previously named the Bella-1, was empty of oil but has been under US sanctions since June 2024 due to allegations of smuggling illegal cargo for Hezbollah, an Iranian-regime-supported militant group in Lebanon.
The US has been pursuing the Marinera since last month, after it attempted to evade the US blockade on sanctioned oil vessels near Venezuela. The tanker was travelling from Iran to Venezuela, according to US officials.
US European Command, which oversees American forces in the region, said in a statement on X that the seizure took place “pursuant to a warrant issued by a US federal court”.
According to UK defence secretary John Healey, the vessel moved about 7.3 million barrels of Iranian crude oil over a four-year period, “the proceeds of which have been used to finance terrorism, threat and instability across the world”.
It’s not the first shadow fleet ship to be seized by the US, and experts say it might not be the last.
In December, US special forces seized the Skipper, a crude oil tanker that had been sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2022 and was off Venezuela’s coast.
Earlier on Wednesday, the US Coast Guard also intercepted a tanker carrying Venezuelan oil, the Panama-flagged M Sophia, near the northeast coast of South America, US officials said, in the fourth seizure in recent weeks.
A ‘message’ to Russia, Iran and Venezuela
Experts say the recent crackdown on alleged shadow fleet vessels was designed to send a message.
Anton Moiseienko, a senior lecturer in law at the Australian National University, said the US was prepared to risk escalation with Russia, which has previously retaliated against countries such as Greece after they seized shadow-fleet vessels.
“I think the primary message is ‘we’re really serious’, the US is very serious about Venezuela and Iran and sanctions against them.
“That’s how I would read it.”
Mick Ryan, a retired Australian Army major general and senior fellow for military studies at the Lowy Institute, said US President Donald Trump’s message may be specifically directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He said that the seizure of the Russian-flagged ship was “not an accident. It was very deliberate.”
“The US had intelligence about this … The Americans are sending a very deliberate message to the Russians that they’re not happy with their conduct in Ukraine. They’re not happy with them for stalling peace in Ukraine,” he told SBS News.
“This is all part of the strategic messaging towards Putin to say, ‘Enough’s enough. It’s time to negotiate in good faith.'”
In an interview with SBS World News, former Australian ambassador to Russia Peter Tesch echoed those sentiments, saying: “I think there is a sense that perhaps this is one of those backdoor ways that America may be able to pressure Russia.”
“Russia is very keen to shore up whatever revenues it can attract from its illegal circumvention of sanctions because for it, of course, oil exports remain one of the primary sources of revenue that help fuel its war of choice in Ukraine,” said Tesch, who also previously served asdeputy secretary at the Department of Defence.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, also linked the seizure to the Russia-Ukraine war, saying it was “relevant to the peace process and bringing a lasting peace closer”.
Both Tesch and Ryan said similar moves against shadow fleet vessels could become more common.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the end of it yet,” Tesch said.
‘Not lawfully Russian-registered’
Another notable detail about the seizure is the country with which the Marinera was — or claimed to be — registered.
Moiseienko said: “What is remarkable about this seizure is that it took place on the high seas, and it also took place after the vessel put on the display of a Russian flag, claiming that it was registered to Russia.”
“The legal significance is that you can enforce your laws even on the high seas against stateless vessels, but not vessels that are registered to another state,” he told SBS News.
Russia’s Transport Ministry has called the seizure a violation of maritime law.
The US European Command announced the seizure of the Bella-1 “for violations of US sanctions”. Credit: US European Command
However, despite displaying a Russian flag, the Marinera may not be subject to the country’s legal protection.
The UK Ministry of Defence, which assisted in the seizure of the tanker, said the ship was “initially flying a false flag” and later “turned off its transponders while at sea and sought to reflag while being pursued”.
Jennifer Parker, a non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute and an expert in naval studies, told SBS News that even if the ship was displaying a Russian flag, the seizure was legal — because “vessels can’t just change their registry at sea during a voyage”.
“It’s not lawfully a Russian-registered vessel because it went through the process of trying to change its flag by painting the flag on the side whilst it’s at sea,” she said.
More tankers flying Russian flag
An increasing number of alleged shadow-fleet tankers have been changing their registration to Russia in recent months.
Richard Meade, editor-in-chief of Lloyd’s List — an international news and analysis service on shipping — told CNBC that there’s been “an accelerated shift of vessels changing to the Russian flag over the past month”.
“Seventeen shadow fleet tankers changed fraudulent flags to join the Russian flag in the past few weeks alone,” he said.
Some experts have said the tankers are re-flagging as Russian in an attempt to gain the protection of Russia.
Parker said that, except in rare circumstances, ships can’t be boarded if they’re flagged to another country, unless that country agrees to it.
“Russia’s not going to agree to that. So it does make it difficult, if they are going to be flagged to Russia to get the jurisdictional access.”
However, she said this only applies if a ship has “reflagged lawfully”, adding: “I don’t think this Bella-1 was [re-flagged lawfully] in any way.”
Australia ‘monitoring’ the situation
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Australia imposed sanctions on the direct import of crude oil and refined oil products from Russia.
It’s also taken action against Russia’s shadow fleet by imposing sanctions on 200 Russian shadow-fleet oil tankers, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in December.
SBS News revealed in October that at least 25 of the tankers were supplying Australian companies, based on the data from June compiled by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
According to the CREA data, Australia was at that time the biggest importer of oil products refined from Russian crude in third countries.
Cabinet minister Murray Watt has said the government was “monitoring” the US seizure of vessels such as the Marinero.
“What I can say is that there has been a pattern of countries like Russia and Iran using shadow fleets to try to get around sanctions,” he said.
“This would not be the first time that we’ve seen these kinds of vessels undertaking these kinds of voyages. But as I say, we’re still at the stage of monitoring this and trying to establish the facts.”
