Satellite Data Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by US is Now Near the Texas Coast.
American personnel boarding the deck of the Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed oil from Venezuela – is now positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently positions the Skipper about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on 10 December and has been sanctioned by multiple governments. When it was intercepted, it was incorrectly sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are now targeting a third such ship, which has been identified by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump said yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her velocity drops”.
The group added the vessel is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
