Four tankers that left Venezuela in 'dark mode' return as US eyes the country's oil

Four tankers that left Venezuela in early January with their transponders off, also known as "dark mode," have reportedly returned to the country's waters. The news comes after several U.S. tanker seizures and amid the Trump administration's push to acquire Venezuelan oil following the arrest of dictator Nicolás Maduro.

Most of the four tankers were loaded, according to Reuters, which noted that Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), a state-owned company, and monitoring service TankerTrackers.com had reported the vessels' return.

A flotilla of approximately one dozen loaded vessels as well as at least three empty ships left Venezuelan waters last month, despite a U.S. blockade that has been imposed since mid-December, according to Reuters.

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One of the vessels, the supertanker M Sophia, which had the Panamanian flag, was intercepted by the U.S. earlier this week, as was the Olina, which had the flag of Sao Tome And Principe, according to Reuters. The outlet reported, citing PDVSA, that the Olina was released to Venezuela on Friday.

The Olina had been seized by U.S. forces in a pre-dawn mission on Friday. The U.S. Southern Command said that Marines and sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear worked on the mission in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.

"Apprehensions like this are backed by the full power of the U.S. Navy’s Amphibious Ready Group, including the ready and lethal platforms of the USS Iwo Jima, USS San Antonio, and USS Fort Lauderdale," the U.S. Southern Command wrote in a post on X. "The Department of War’s Operation Southern Spear is unwavering in its mission to defend our homeland by ending illicit activity and restoring security in the Western Hemisphere."

The Olina, previously named the Minerva M, was sanctioned by the United States for its role in transporting Russian oil, according to The Wall Street Journal.

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Three other vessels that departed Venzuela in the flotilla, Panama-flagged Merope, Cook Islands-flagged Min Hang and Panama-flagged Thalia III, were spotted late Friday in Venezuelan waters by TankerTrackers.com, Reuters reported.

On Friday, Trump hosted nearly two dozen oil executives at the White House to discuss investment in Venezuela after the U.S. military's successful capture of Maduro. The executives represented several major companies, including Chevron, Exxon, ConocoPhillips, Continental, Halliburton, HKN, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol Americas, Repsol, Eni, Aspect Holdings, Tallgrass, Raisa Energy and Hilcorp.

"You have total safety, total security. One of the reasons you couldn't go in is you had no guarantees, you had no security, but now you have total security," Trump said during the meeting. 

"It's a whole different Venezuela and Venezuela is going to be very successful, and the people of the United States are going to be big beneficiaries because we're going to be extracting, you know, numbers of in terms of oil, like, you know, few people have ever seen actually. So, you're dealing with us directly. You're not dealing with Venezuela at all. We don't want you to deal with Venezuela," the president added.

The president also predicted that the acquisition of Venezuelan oil would lead to massive wealth, lower taxes and "lots of jobs for Americans and for Venezuelans."

Days before the meeting with oil executives, Trump said that Venezuela would be turning over between 30 million and 50 million barrels of "high-quality," sanctioned oil to the U.S. He made the announcement on Truth Social and said that the oil would be sold at market price and that he would "control the proceeds to ensure it is "used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!"

Fox News Digital's Emma Colton and Sophia Compton contributed to this report.