Satellite Image Shows First Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Off the Texas Coast.
US agents boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently places the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on 10 December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. When it was intercepted, it was incorrectly sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the first vessel – was not under sanctions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are currently pursuing a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk 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 vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.