UPDATE 1-Panama says it canceled flag of US-seized oil tanker a year ago

Panama's maritime authority on Thursday said it had canceled in January of last year the ‌flag of the M Sophia, a Venezuela-linked oil tanker seized by the U.S. military this week. The U.S. military's Southern Command on Wednesday ⁠said it had intercepted the M Sophia before dawn, and described it as a "stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker." Panamanian authorities canceled the supertanker's flag on January 23, 2025, the AMP authority said ​in a statement.

Panama's maritime authority on Thursday said it had canceled in January of last year the ‌flag of the M Sophia, a Venezuela-linked oil tanker seized by the U.S. military this week.

The U.S. military's Southern Command on Wednesday ⁠said it had intercepted the M Sophia before dawn, and described it as a "stateless, sanctioned dark fleet motor tanker." Panamanian authorities canceled the supertanker's flag on January 23, 2025, the AMP authority said ​in a statement. The maritime authority also said the Bella-1, a Russian-flagged tanker the U.S. seized ‍the same day near Iceland after a two-week pursuit, was once listed on the country's registry but this stopped being the case as of October 7, 2024.

A ship's flag determines who has authority over it. The U.S. ⁠says that ‌when a flag ⁠is canceled it can become stateless, meaning it lacks protections under international law and may be boarded or even seized. Panama's ‍maritime authority did not immediately respond to a request for more information on why the ships were ​no longer flagged as Panamanian.

The Bella-1 appeared to be the first time in recent memory ⁠that the U.S. military has seized a Russian-flagged vessel. Wednesday's tanker seizures were third and fourth after the United States intercepted two ⁠vessels in December and then captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a pre-dawn raid on the capital Caracas, and demanded authorities there open oil to U.S. companies or risk more ⁠military intervention.

Top Venezuelan officials have accused the U.S. of trying to steal the country's vast oil ⁠reserves, estimated to be ‌the largest in the world, but Trump said earlier this week he had reached a deal with Maduro's successor on crude exports.