Satellite Image Reveals First Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Off the Texas Coast.
American personnel roped onto the vessel of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring data has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is now positioned near of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently places the Skipper about 80km from the coast.
The Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several nations. When it was seized, it was incorrectly sailing under the ensign of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the Skipper – was not under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now targeting a third ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The group added the tanker is “probably traveling south-east towards South Africa”.
