Imagery Data Reveals First Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Seized by US is Now Near Texas.
American agents roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking data has confirmed that the crude carrier named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for reportedly carrying sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of the state of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking data from a maritime data service currently places the Skipper about 80km offshore.
The Skipper was seized by American officials on 10 December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. When it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the ensign of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
US authorities are currently pursuing a third such vessel, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1. The US President said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.