Palau is reportedly asking Venezuela to investigate the tanker that allegedly took on a false identity to conceal its trading from the heavily-sanctioned South American country.
The Pacific island country sent a letter to various Venezuelan embassies around the globe asking it to look into the 301,620-dwt tanker Ndros' (built 1999) loading of 1.9m barrels of oil destined for Asia last year.
The Ndros, which shipping databases say is flagged in Palau and scrapped in 2018, was reportedly really the 299,157-dwt Calliop (built 2002).
"It appears that this vessel is claiming to be registered with the Palau International Ship Registry. This claim is false," the letter said.
"It therefore appears that the vessel is using a falsified AIS signal to mask its true identity."
Skirting sanctions
The deception was thought to be a way around US sanctions, which seek to cut off Venezuela's oil exports in an effort to topple its ruling regime.
Under outgoing President Donald Trump, the US has been aggressive in levying sanctions against geopolitical rivals, such as Venezuela and Iran, and companies that do business with them, often sanctioning oil companies, ships, executives and traders.
The Calliop was reportedly under charter to the National Iranian Oil Co, which is under US sanctions.
In the past, the US has warned the shipping industry that those seeking to bust sanctions could broadcast false AIS data, falsify documents related to the ship and cargo, physically alter the vessel to show a different name and change flag states.
According to Clarksons, there are 256 ships flying the Palau flag.
