US seizes Nigerian-owned supertanker over alleged crude theft

By Udeme Akpan & Godwin Oritse, with agency reports

MaTaZ ArIsInG
Dallas, Texas

LAGOS — The United States Coast Guard, in collaboration with the US Navy, has intercepted a Nigerian-owned supertanker, Skipper, over allegations of crude oil theft, piracy, and other transnational crimes.

The vessel, a 20-year-old Very Large Crude Carrier, VLCC, with IMO Number 9304667, is reportedly owned and managed by Nigeria-based Thomarose Global Ventures Ltd., though its registered owner is listed as Triton Navigation Corp., headquartered in the Marshall Islands.

Authorities said the tanker was illegally flying the Guyanese flag at the time of its arrest.

In a swift rebuttal, Guyana’s Maritime Administration Department, MARAD, confirmed that Skipper is not on its national ship registry and was using the country’s flag without authorisation.

According to US security sources, the seizure was carried out under American law enforcement authority, with President Donald Trump announcing the operation.

Beyond suspicions of stolen crude, the vessel is also being investigated for allegedly transporting a large consignment of hard drugs and operating within a network backed by suspected Iranian and other Islamist-linked money-laundering financiers.

A check with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, Abuja, showed that Thomarose is inactive.

Further checks by Vanguard showed that Thomarose’s corporate address is listed as 111 Jakpa Road, Effurun, Warri, Delta State, with CAC registration number 1007876.
However, there are no phone numbers linked to the company.

It shows weakness in our Port State Control regime — CMS president, Olaniyan

Reacting to the seizure, the President of the Centre for Marine Surveyors, Nigeria, Engr. Akin Olaniyan, said that if the vessel indeed departed from Nigeria before being intercepted, it would indicate weaknesses in Nigeria’s Port State Control regime.

According to him, “If the vessel emanated from Nigeria, it suggests our Port State Control is practically non-existent. It also means any vessel leaving Nigerian waters may come under stricter scrutiny by Port State Control authorities in other countries. This issue has nothing to do with Nigeria as a country, but with regulatory enforcement.”

Similarly, the National President of Oil and Gas Service Providers Association of Nigeria, OGSPAN, Mazi Colman Obasi, said: “I have never heard that Nigeria has a supertanker and that it is not active in CAC. I don’t even know if stakeholders are aware. Anyway, the government and other agencies can do more.”

Speaking also, President of the Ship Owners Association of Nigeria, SOAN, Otunba Sola Adewumi, noted that he could not comment on the seizure of the vessel as he was yet to receive sufficient details about the circumstances surrounding its arrest.

He appealed for more time to ascertain the vessel’s ownership and registration status.

Similarly, former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Mr. Temisan Omatseye, said he had only just received information about the vessel’s arrest and could not give an informed reaction.

On its part, the NIMASA said it had no official information on the incident. The agency’s spokesman, Mr. Edward Osagie, told Vanguard to forward an official enquiry, assuring that it would be addressed appropriately.

Reacting, a Port Harcourt-based energy analyst, said: “With the existence of some government agencies and the involvement of private contractors, we expected oil theft and other illegal activities to stop or reduce drastically. One is surprised that this and other practices still go on.

“All agencies need to do more than they currently do. No nation can progress if its citizens continue to steal its crude, the resource that enable the nation to generate foreign exchange for economic development.”

Nigeria lost 13.5m barrels of crude worth $3.3bn to theft, sabotage in one year — NEITI

Earlier this year, it came to light that the Federal Government lost a total of 13.5 million barrels of crude oil worth $3.3 billion to theft and pipeline sabotage between 2023 and 2024. Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Dr. Ogbonnanya Orji, disclosed in Lagos at the 2025 Association of Energy Correspondents of Nigeria (NAEC) conference in Lagos on October 7.

He spoke on the theme, ‘Nigeria’s Energy Future: Exploring Opportunities and Addressing Risks for Sustainable Growth.’

Orji noted that the lost revenue could have supported a full year of the federal health budget or provided energy access to millions of households.

He further disclosed that its 2021–2022 Oil and Gas Industry Reports indicated that Nigeria earned $23.04 billion in 2021 and $23.05 billion in 2022 from the sector.

In addition, it stated that N1.5 trillion were owed to the Federation by some companies and government agencies, saying the funds could have supported the provision of energy infrastructure and healthcare to the people.

Orji spoke further: “Over the past decade, NEITI has evolved from an auditing agency to a governance reform institution.

“We have institutionalised regular audits of oil, gas, and solid mineral sectors, tracking production, payments, and remediation; developed Nigeria’s Beneficial Ownership Register, unmasking the true owners of over 4,800 extractive assets, and helping the government combat corruption and illicit financial flows; and launched the NEITI Data Centre—a national open-data infrastructure that provides real-time public access to industry information.

“We have also strengthened partnerships with NUPRC, NMDPRA, and NCDMB to promote transparency in licensing, metering, and host community trust management and introduced the Just Energy Transition and Climate Accountability Framework to ensure that Nigeria’s shift to cleaner energy is transparent, inclusive, and fair.”

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