Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA reported its network out of service due to hacking, delaying oil operations, according to Bloomberg as shared by AlbertoRodNews on X during the reporting window from 7:16 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. UTC on December 15. Concurrently, the U.S. destroyer USS Thomas Hudner signaled its position approximately 350 km from Cape San Roman in Falcón State and 295 km from Curaçao, per daopz on X. The USS Thomas Hudner, an Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA destroyer equipped with Aegis air and missile defense, Tomahawk missiles, and anti-submarine capabilities, carries about 300 Marines and previously engaged Houthi threats in the Red Sea, as detailed by daopz. This follows earlier U.S. military aircraft movements to the region reported in the prior period. A U.S. Air Force C-17A (RCH426) departed Pope Army Airfield en route to Santo Domingo's Las Américas Airport, according to LatAmMilMVMTs on X, adding to satellite-observed increases in U.S. tankers at the Dominican base from earlier in the day. These developments occur amid ongoing Venezuela-Trinidad and Tobago tensions over suspended natural gas contracts and a U.S. seizure of Venezuelan oil on December 10, as stated by the Venezuelan government yesterday. PDVSA had previously reported a cyber attack blamed on the United States, with operations then unaffected per Reuters.
