Imagery Data Reveals First Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Seized by American Authorities is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
American personnel roped onto the vessel of the Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring data has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for reportedly carrying embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December shows the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently positions the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. When it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the Skipper – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now targeting a third vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers 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 remaining unless her speed drops”.
The group further stated the vessel is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
