Imagery Image Shows Initial Venezuelan Tanker Seized by US is Currently Off the Texas Coast.
US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring data has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly transporting embargoed crude from Venezuela – is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December indicates the tanker is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data from a maritime data service currently places the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. At the time it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now pursuing a third vessel, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her speed decreases”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “likely heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
