Satellite Data Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Seized by American Authorities is Currently Off the Texas Coast.
US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has confirmed that the crude carrier Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the tanker is near Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently positions the vessel about 80km offshore.
The Skipper was seized by US authorities on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. When it was seized, it was falsely flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are now pursuing a third vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group noted 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 remaining unless her speed drops”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
