Energy

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to designate Venezuela’s government a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO) and ordered a “total and complete” blockade of sanctioned oil tankers moving into and out of the country.

A Russian “shadow fleet” tanker sanctioned by the UK, EU and U.S. continued transporting oil in late 2025, underscoring what an investigation by Follow the Money describes as the limited impact Western measures have had on the cash flow Moscow earns from crude exports.

An intricate network of Russian, North Korean, and Gulf-based companies has been quietly helping funnel hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil to North Korea in apparent violation of U.N. sanctions, according to a new investigation by OCCRP and its affiliates.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether Iranian oil tycoon Hossein Shamkhani violated sanctions while using a global network of banks, according to Bloomberg.

A New Zealand–based marine insurer played a pivotal role in keeping a fleet of tankers carrying Iranian and Russian oil moving to Asian markets despite Western sanctions, according to a Reuters investigation that has prompted scrutiny from authorities in Wellington.

The U.S. Treasury Department disclosed the existence of roughly $9 billion in 2024 financial activity tied to Iranian “shadow banking,” mapping a web of front companies and intermediaries used to sell sanctioned oil, launder illicit proceeds, and procure banned technology.

The United States imposed expansive new sanctions Wednesday on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, escalating U.S. economic pressure as negotiations to end the war in Ukraine falter.

One of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels is smuggling gasoline and diesel into the Port of Ensenada with the aid of a “dark fleet” tanker and a Houston-based company, according to an investigation by Reuters.