Doing a 2 for 1 special on Christmas day?

Based on our visual analysis from both shore and space, we estimate that there are around 17.5 million barrels of crude oil floating onboard tankers in Venezuela which are unable to depart due to the ongoing US blockade.

That's around $900M of oil.#OOTT #Tankers #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/MpTYsU3xKi

— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) December 27, 2025

China wants needs that oil.

will25u said:

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Based on our visual analysis from both shore and space, we estimate that there are around 17.5 million barrels of crude oil floating onboard tankers in Venezuela which are unable to depart due to the ongoing US blockade.

That's around $900M of oil.#OOTT #Tankers #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/MpTYsU3xKi

— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) December 27, 2025

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I have said for years and years, blockade Iran and stop their oil exports. Blockades work as the penultimate leverage, short of military force.

i would pay close attention to the US blockage halting incoming shipments of diluent as well. Venezuela cannot make their own to keep up with their own wells, they have been relying on importing it. If we manage to cut that off, their pipelines and wells cannot function for very long, and the oil industry grinds to a halt.

#NEW Maritime notice warns of hazardous, likely military operations in areas near to Venezuela on Dec. 27–28, requiring ships and aircraft to divert.

source: @HHunternight pic.twitter.com/LJjRlZcgSi

— Conflict Radar (@Conflict_Radar) December 27, 2025

I've read they have over $80 million worth in tankers sitting in port, with none coming or going at this point. They are going to run out of places to put freshly pumped crude anyway I'd think at some point in the next day or three (not that I know anything about their storage facilities).

nortex97 said:

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I've read they have over $80 million worth in tankers sitting in port, with none coming or going at this point. They are going to run out of places to put freshly pumped crude anyway I'd think at some point in the next day or three (not that I know anything about their storage facilities).

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Try 900million.

Based on our visual analysis from both shore and space, we estimate that there are around 17.5 million barrels of crude oil floating onboard tankers in Venezuela which are unable to depart due to the ongoing US blockade.

That's around $900M of oil.#OOTT #Tankers #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/MpTYsU3xKi

— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) December 27, 2025

aggiehawg said:

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will25u said:

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Based on our visual analysis from both shore and space, we estimate that there are around 17.5 million barrels of crude oil floating onboard tankers in Venezuela which are unable to depart due to the ongoing US blockade.

That's around $900M of oil.#OOTT #Tankers #Venezuela pic.twitter.com/MpTYsU3xKi

— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) December 27, 2025

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I have said for years and years, blockade Iran and stop their oil exports. Blockades work as the penultimate leverage, short of military force.

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Blockades are military force

So why are we doing the blockade? I'm genuinely unaware the reasons I'm not asking rhetorically.

Wow. I know oil is big business but…that's quite a cash flow crunch.

I imagine the crews are sitting on the ships just waiting to be told wtf to do next. Again, I am mystified what the Caracas crew must be thinking right now. Maybe the slow twisting pressure is/was the right call after all.

Yukon Cornelius said:

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So why are we doing the blockade? I'm genuinely unaware the reasons I'm not asking rhetorically.

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Basically all the oil revenue is used to fund the many, many activities of the state. Providing money to their militias, base money for their gangs, it funds their money to buy votes and support the poor sections (which provide the members for their militia).

This is in addition to the obvious gift opportunities. Cutt8ng off their ability to provide oil limits their ability to suppress opposition and maintain their grip on power. It also cuts off alternate funding for their drug gangs and inhibits their foreign policy options. The oil goes to Cuba and elsewhere as well.

Yukon Cornelius said:

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So why are we doing the blockade? I'm genuinely unaware the reasons I'm not asking rhetorically.

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They are stuck in VZ waters because of the blockade/sanctions. The companies/VZ aren't willing to eat the costs of the US impounding their ship and taking the oil they paid for.

Yukon Cornelius said:

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So why are we doing the blockade? I'm genuinely unaware the reasons I'm not asking rhetorically.

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Cuba, Iran, and VZ governments depend on this oil moving. You block all of this and you are negatively impacting all three. I previously said you get a two for one special by doing this, but you actually may get a 3 for 1 out of it.

But why and what's the objective?

Yukon Cornelius said:

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But why and what's the objective?

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From another thread, I posted this several days ago:

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Re: Venezuela - they've told us why they are doing it. It's not a secret. It's Monroe Doctrine 2.0. They want Russian, Chinese, and Iranian influence out of the Western Hemisphere. The administration has stated as such and it's in the newly revised Five-Year Defensive Strategy document put out by the DOW.

I'm not sure why everyone continues to ignore this. Whether someone chooses to believe that is the real reason is their own prerogative, but I have no reason to believe otherwise since we don't need VZ's oil.

Also note the Cuba Is Collapsing thread. Taking out VZ simultaneously takes out Cuba which are the two biggest bad actor communist states in the Western Hemisphere. It's a two for one Monroe Special.

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Adding following to above: this also impacts Iran because Iran is key player in the VZ oil supply chain and uses this oil and proceeds to fund their terrorism. It's why you have the article out today from Iran declaring themselves at war with us because we are now disrupting their illicit oil supply chain with this VZ action.

Got it. Thank you. Certainly makes sense from a strategic standpoint.

Would add as well the narco trade which is not just in fentanyl/cocaine to the US, but runs through Hezbollah to Lebanon and Europe also. Black market oil, and narco military regimes are the currency of Iran-Venezuela-Cuba now.

This is pretty well documented at this point and strangling their shipping/cash flow for all of this is why we are seeing…things like this 'protest' in Tehran right now (as well as the mullahs saying they are now going to go for 'all out war' against the west).

Amid mounting economic problems in #Iran, protests in Tehran continued for a second day today. As was the case in previous protests, demonstrations over economic conditions can quickly morph into more political protests with some Iranians chanting "Reza Shah, God Bless Your… pic.twitter.com/aZkn9VQ7nO

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) December 29, 2025

I read yesterday, VZ started shutting down wells. Bad sign for them, with no storage or diluents. It will take millions and months (years?) to recover. The heavy crude will end up turning into cement/asphalt - leading to major infrastructure damage. From what i understand, this isn't something they can just turn a valve and the oil starts flowing again, etc

Supposedly were going to be full within 10 days…11 days ago.

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Venezuela may be forced to start shutting in oil production as it runs out of storage space amid the U.S. tanker blockade, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed sources.

According to the sources, the biggest oil storage hub and tankers at Venezuelan ports could fill up within 10 days, prompting production curbs.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that some 11 million barrels of Venezuelan crude were stuck at sea amid the U.S. escalation, prompting deeper discounts and demands from buyers for changes in the spot contracts, under which the oil was being sold.

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I don't know anything about that source though (and don't trust Bloomberg News). Would love to hear from someone credible/informed on this.

So I was correct. We did a 2 for 1 special on Christmas Eve. We hit land for the first time.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15419453/amp/Trump-confirms-land-strike-Venezuela.html

Very good timing:



Venezuela is way more a problem child than I realized

NEW: The Bella 1 tanker is still being pursued by U.S. forces after refusing to comply. Its crew reportedly painted a Russian flag on the hull and is now claiming Russian status as it flees - NYT

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) December 30, 2025

Ha, now it is truly a false flag operation. Unless Russia goes way out of it's own way to claim it, I think it will be viewed as a clear false flag. I doubt they are registered with Russia anywhere, etc.

But, sometimes Russia just likes to spite the US, to show that they can still display power (good propaganda for back home). So, we'll see.

I don't doubt for a second that ships in Russia's shadow fleet, crewed by Russians, are involved in moving Venezuelan oil. But that's the thing about a shadow fleet. It's employed so that a nation can disassociate itself from the activities of the ships in question. Russia won't own up to any shadow vessels, nor China, nor Iran, etc.

There's nothing to be done apart from what we're already doing. But it is funny that the crew did that, and outed themselves in an attempt to keep from being fired upon or boarded.

fredfredunderscorefred said:

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although desire the same goal (regime change in Venezuela; the people of Venezuela elected someone else), we need to get back to congress declaring war. But congress has given so much authority to the executive over the years, that he probably has the grounds to do it. Not a fan.

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And bring back the gold standard while you're at it!

Stillllll running.

The U.S. Coast Guard is continuing to pursue the Guyana-flagged Iranian-linked sanctioned crude oil tanker, M/T Bella 1, which is currently sailing northwest through the Northern Atlantic possibly towards Iceland or Greenland, with the crew having recently painted the Russian… pic.twitter.com/AQpc1tz6Ka

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) December 30, 2025

Shouldn't they go ahead and board it? If they just simply follow and harass it, but let it through, wont all the others just follow its example?

Hate to make this comparison, but this is getting close to being like the Chinese balloon that Biden allowed to fly across the US with impunity.

Who?mikejones! said:

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Shouldn't they go ahead and board it? If they just simply follow and harass it, but let it through, wont all the others just follow its example?

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I mean, it doesn't do much good if we don't make an example of those that attempt to break out.

Rossticus said:

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Who?mikejones! said:

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Shouldn't they go ahead and board it? If they just simply follow and harass it, but let it through, wont all the others just follow its example?

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I mean, it doesn't do much good if we don't make an example of those that attempt to break out.

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Exactly. The rest are waiting to see if we'll back up our tough talk.

To bad taco exists

What kind of Coast Guard boat is following it? If this one of the smaller ones they probably don't have the ability to stop and board an oil tanker simply because of the difference in size. And don't we already know this since they've previously requested backup because they can't board it? They may not even have firepower on that boat to do slow it down.

The CiA is too modest. They should be excited that Tump is giving them public credit for a job well done.

🇺🇸 🇻🇪 According to U.S. officials speaking to WSJ, President Trump made the decision to declassify a Dec 24th attack conducted by the CIA inside Venezuela.

According to Marc Polymeropoulos (@Mpolymer), CIA retired, some in the IC voiced frustration at the President’s previous… pic.twitter.com/9Ho56Tz8n4

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) December 31, 2025

Cyprian said:

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I read yesterday, VZ started shutting down wells. Bad sign for them, with no storage or diluents. It will take millions and months (years?) to recover. The heavy crude will end up turning into cement/asphalt - leading to major infrastructure damage. From what i understand, this isn't something they can just turn a valve and the oil starts flowing again, etc

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Yes, that would be a logistics nightmare as this stuff settles in pipelines, tanks, well heads. Everywhere.