Satellite Image Shows First Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by US is Currently Off Texas.
US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly transporting sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is now positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data from a maritime data service presently places the vessel about 80km from the coast.
The Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several nations. When it was seized, it was incorrectly sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. It – unlike the Skipper – was not under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now targeting a third vessel, which has been named by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her velocity decreases”.
The group added the vessel is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
