The Maduro-Khamenei Oil Alliance: List of Foreign Flagged Vessels Shipping Iranian and Venezuelan Oil

Updated: February 28, 2023

On June 11, 2022, Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi signed a 20-year cooperation agreement to expand ties in the oil and petrochemical industries, the military, and the economy.  Since then, bilateral ties have mushroomed to the extent that unconfirmed reports suggest Caracas will shelter fleeing IRI officials in the event of regime collapse.  So far this year, Iran has supplied over 26 million barrels of crude oil and gas condensate. In exchange, Venezuela – whose energy industry is now being assisted by U.S. giant Chevron – has delivered about the same volume of fuel oil cargo to Iran. National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) vessels have transported most shipments – in both directions: once discharged of Iranian crude and gas in Venezuelan ports, the same NITC tanker loads Venezuelan fuel oil on the return leg to Iran.

However, a significant number of non-NITC, foreign-flagged (i.e. not Iranian) vessels are also involved in the trade.  Furthermore, over recent weeks, UANI has noted that many tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil to countries like China are now participating in the Venezuelan trade. The below list shows foreign-flagged tankers that have been involved in shipping both Iranian oil and Venezuelan oil since 2019. As of February 28, 2023, UANI has documented 56 vessels that have transported both Iranian and Venezuelan oil and oil products.  That represents one-fifth of the vessels on UANI’s ‘Ghost Armada.’