Imagery Image Reveals Initial Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Off the Texas Coast.
US agents boarding the vessel of the Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed crude from Venezuela – is now positioned near of the state of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently positions the vessel about 80km offshore.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. It – unlike the first vessel – was not under sanctions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are now targeting a third such ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her speed decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.