Venezuelan crude oil is being shipped to the U.S. at speed and in bulk following the arrest of former President Nicolás Maduro, according to a maritime intelligence analyst.
As many as ’15 very large crude carrier shipments’ carrying 50 million barrels will end up en route, said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, senior maritime intelligence analyst at Windward, which has tracked oil tanker movements around the troubled region for months.
‘The moves overnight that were announced to sell about 30 to 50 million barrels of oil,’ Wiese Bockmann said at a press conference.
‘That’s equivalent to about 15 very large crude carrier shipments,’ the analyst added.
The rapid surge in shipments comes days after President Donald Trump announced that Venezuela would move between 30 million and 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil to the U.S., worth roughly $2.8 billion at current prices.
Trump said Tuesday the oil would be sold at market value and that he would control the proceeds to ensure they are ‘used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!’
Windward maritime intelligence data indicates massive oil flows are already materializing, according to Wiese Bockmann.
‘And just for comparison, over December, using our commodities tracking partners, Vortex, about 47 million barrels of crude and containers were shipped from Venezuela,’ she noted.
‘They’re going to be taken by storage ships to the U.S.,’ Wiese Bockmann added.
According to the analyst, U.S. infrastructure is well-prepared to handle the influx.
‘U.S. refineries have been configured for Venezuela’s heavy crude,’ she said, adding that ‘we’re already very quickly seeing some action there.’
Windward tracking data shows increasing tanker activity tied to Western operators, with four Western-linked tankers being tracked sailing for Venezuela, she said, as well as reports of tankers already chartered.
The developments follow dramatic geopolitical events earlier this month, when U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife and transported them to New York City to face criminal drug charges.
Trump later said the U.S. would temporarily run Caracas until a safe transition could occur, warning he was ‘ready to stage a second and much larger attack’ if necessary.
‘There are reports of more tankers chartered,’ the analyst said.
‘Two arrived at Jose Terminal on the fifth and sixth of January, and two have sailed so far for the U.S. on Jan. 2 and Jan. 6.’ she claimed.
According to reports, Venezuela is said to hold more than 300 billion barrels of proven reserves, which is more than Saudi Arabia, Iran or Kuwait, but sanctions and isolation have impacted production and exports.
As previously reported by Fox News Digital, Energy Secretary Chris Wright has been tasked with executing Trump’s plan ‘immediately,’ as major U.S. energy companies such as Chevron, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil prepare for White House meeting Friday to revive Venezuela’s oil industry.
But Wiese Bockmann said the arrest of Maduro had disrupted the so-called dark fleet trade that had been taking Venezuelan crude to Asia.
‘We’ve had this phenomenon of the dark fleet exploding since Russia invaded Ukraine,’ she added.
‘And we’ve had this axis of Venezuela, Iran, Russia, China basically trading oil between them.
‘If it’s condensate from Iran to Venezuela or if it’s crude back from Venezuela to China, which is about 600,000 barrels a day on average,’ she added.
‘These days, Asia-bound exports remain poor and are paralyzed, but we have seen a very quick resumption of crude flows to the U.S. after the seizure of Maduro.’
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.