Vessel seized by US not registered in Nigeria – NIMASA

By Ayorinde Oluokun/Abuja

The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has denied reports that been drawn to media reports a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) MV SKIPPER with IMO Number 9304667 recently seized by the United States forces over crude oil theft and other other transnational crimes was registered in Nigeria.

The Management of NIMASA said this in a statement on Friday in reaction to some media reports that the big crude oil tanker that U.S. forces seized off Venezuela’s coast on Wednesday was registered in Nigeria and owned by Nigerian.

The tanker Skipper was impounded by the U.S forces for allegedly transporting oil from Iran and Venezuela.

The Skipper has been under sanction by the Office of US Foreign Assets Control since 2022.

However, some newspaper reports had tried to link the VLCC to Nigeria, a claim that was denied by NIMASA in the statement issued on Friday.

NIMASA said in the statement that VLCC SKIPPER is not a Nigerian-flagged vessel, and its purported owners, Thomarose Global Ventures Limited, are not registered with it as a shipping company.

Further, the agency said analysis of the vessel’s movement, monitored through the Agency’s Command, Control, Communication, Computers and Intelligence (C4i) Centre, showed that the vessel was last sighted in Nigerian waters on 1st July 2024.

It added that after departing Nigerian waters, the vessel continued on its international voyage pattern and was tracked operating in the Arabian Sea (Asia) and later in the Caribbean region, where the U.S. interdiction eventually took place.

NIMASA said records indicated that SKIPPER which was formerly owned by Triton Navigation Corp, has undergone multiple name changes over time.

“The Director General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, reaffirmed the Agency’s commitment to collaborate with all relevant stakeholders, including U.S. authorities, in the ongoing investigations. He emphasized that criminality will not be tolerated in Nigerian waters,” NIMASA said in a statement by Osagie Edward, its Deputy Director/Head, Public Relations