Trump says U.S. could keep seized oil

After the U.S. military seized a large crude oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, President Donald Trump suggested the ship’s contents could remain in U.S. possession.

“Well, we keep it, I guess,” Trump told reporters Wednesday during a business roundtable at the White House, hours after the Guyana-flagged Skipper was seized.

But similar seizures in the past have led to the sale of confiscated assets. The question now is where the oil from the Venezuelan ship may end up and how the proceeds will be distributed.

Matt Smith, head U.S. analyst at energy consulting firm Kpler, told CNBC that Skipper was covertly loaded with 1.1 million barrels of oil in mid-November and appeared to be headed for Cuba. Though the tanker flew Guyana flags, the country’s Maritime Administration Department said in a statement on Wednesday that the ship was not registered in Guyana.

“In past instances, mainly involving Iran, the oil is sold and the US government kept the proceeds. There’s a civil asset forfeiture process,” said Bob McNally, founder and president of Rapidan Energy Group and a former White House energy advisor to President George W. Bush.

“We expect that to be followed in this case,” McNally said.

Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, a petroleum analysis firm, told CNBC that the U.S. has seized Iranian oil sold into the U.S. Gulf Coast on multiple occasions in recent years.

“There is a process, ultimately the USA has to indemnify anyone taking part in the transaction, which includes the oil buyer, any tankers required for the lightering operation or any of the service providers involved in the transaction,” Lipow said. Lightering is the process of transferring cargo, oil or hazardous materials from one ship to another.

“They have done it in the past, will do so again,” Lipow said.

Spokespeople for the U.S. Coast Guard and the Pentagon deferred to the White House when asked about the process of disposing of the tanker and oil. The White House, Department of Justice, and Homeland Security Department did not immediately return requests for comment. 

In 2024, the U.S. seized and sold Iranian oil, generating $47 million in proceeds, some of which could be directed toward the U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund, according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia earlier this year.

The U.S. Marshals Service also operates an asset forfeiture program that includes managing and selling assets seized by the DOJ. But the Marshals Service is not involved in the Venezuelan seizure, according to an agency spokesperson.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a post on X on Wednesday, said that the ship had been sanctioned for multiple years because of its…