Satellite Data Reveals First Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Now Near the Texas Coast.
US personnel roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has confirmed that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently positions the Skipper about 80km offshore.
The Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several governments. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now pursuing a third vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel left unless her speed drops”.
The group further stated the tanker is “probably heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
