Imagery Image Shows Initial Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Near Texas.
US personnel boarding the deck of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed oil from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently positions the vessel about 80km offshore.
The Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on 10 December and has been sanctioned by several nations. When it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under sanctions when it was brought under US custody.
US authorities are currently targeting a third such ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The group further stated the vessel is “likely heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
