Imagery Image Reveals Initial Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by American Authorities is Currently Near Texas.
US personnel roped onto the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the US for reportedly transporting embargoed oil from Venezuela – is now off the coast of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December indicates the tanker is near 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 taken into custody by American officials on 10 December and has been sanctioned by several governments. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a another tanker, the Centuries. It – unlike the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are now pursuing a third such ship, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump said recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel 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 speed drops”.
The group added the vessel is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
