Imagery Data Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Off Texas.
US agents boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the US for reportedly transporting embargoed crude from Venezuela – is now off the coast of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking data from a maritime data service presently positions the Skipper about 50 miles offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several governments. When it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the flag of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody.
American agencies are currently targeting a third such ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1. The US President stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel remaining unless her velocity decreases”.
The group added the vessel is “likely heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
