About a dozen oil tankers loaded with Venezuelan crude oil and fuel have left the country’s waters in so-called dark mode since the start of the year, according to documents seen by Reuters and industry sources, including monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.
The movements suggest a possible breach of a strict blockade imposed by US President Donald Trump, even as Washington insists the oil embargo remains in force following the dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by US troops early Saturday.
All of the identified vessels are under sanctions, and most are supertankers that typically transport Venezuelan crude to China, according to TankerTrackers.com and shipping documents from state-run oil company PDVSA. A separate group of smaller sanctioned ships also departed after discharging imports or completing domestic voyages.
At least four of the tankers left Venezuelan waters on Saturday via a route north of Margarita Island after briefly stopping near the country’s maritime border, TankerTrackers.com said, citing satellite imagery. A source familiar with the departure paperwork told Reuters that at least four supertankers had been cleared by Venezuelan authorities to leave in dark mode.
It was not immediately clear whether the departures were in defiance of the US blockade. While Trump said on Saturday that the oil embargo had not been lifted, he added that Venezuela’s largest customers, including China, would continue receiving oil.
PDVSA had accumulated a large inventory of floating storage since the US blockade began last month, bringing Venezuela’s oil exports close to a standstill. The company has begun reducing output and has asked some joint ventures to shut well clusters due to accumulated oil and residual fuel stocks, both onshore and aboard vessels anchored near ports. Oil exports remain Venezuela’s primary source of revenue, which will be critical for an interim government led by Oil Minister and Vice President Delcy Rodriguez to finance spending and maintain stability.
Representatives of the White House, the US State Department, PDVSA, and Venezuela’s oil ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Venezuela's bonds surge after US capture of Maduro
Meanwhile, Venezuela’s default hit government bonds surged on Monday following Maduro’s capture, fueling renewed hopes for what could become one of the largest and most complex sovereign debt restructurings on record. Bonds issued by both the government and PDVSA rose as much as 8.5 cents on the dollar, or around 20 percent, with analysts predicting further gains.
“Venezuela and PDVSA bonds have roughly doubled in price during the course of 2025, but should still see a strong bounce, up to 10 points, at the start of Monday’s session,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note to clients.
Tradeweb data showed Venezuela’s 2031 bond climbing to nearly 40 cents on the dollar, with other bonds trading between 35 and 38 cents. Most PDVSA debt rose more than 6 cents to around 30 cents. Venezuela’s government and PDVSA have defaulted on bonds with an estimated face value of about $60 billion, while analysts estimate the country’s total external debt, including other PDVSA obligations, bilateral loans, and arbitration awards, at between $150 billion and $170 billion, depending on how accrued interest and court judgments are calculated.
Investors cautioned that any debt restructuring is likely to be lengthy and highly complex. Alejo Czerwonko, UBS Global Wealth Management’s chief investment officer for emerging markets in the Americas, said persistent political uncertainty, the likelihood of a protracted restructuring, and limited visibility into Venezuela’s repayment capacity would likely cap further gains in bond prices.
Citi analysts also warned that restructuring would require a multi-track, multi-year settlement framework due to the scale of the debt, a fragmented creditor base, legal challenges, and US sanctions. They described the process as exceptionally complex, potentially comparable to Greece’s 2012 restructuring, and said outcomes would be highly sensitive to assumptions about post-transition economic recovery and oil production growth.
Citi’s base case assumes a 50 percent principal haircut on existing bonds, followed by the issuance of a 20-year new bond and a separate 10-year zero-coupon bond to compensate for missed interest payments since 2017. The analysts said debt would need to be reduced to roughly 85 percent of GDP at the time of restructuring, down from nearly 175 percent currently. Assuming 14 percent of oil revenue is allocated to external debt obligations, the new bonds could carry a coupon of around 4.4 percent.