Imagery Data Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by US is Currently Off the Texas Coast.
American personnel boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring data has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed crude from Venezuela – is now off the coast of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December shows the ship is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently places the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. When it was seized, it was incorrectly sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the Skipper – was not under sanctions when it was brought under US custody.
US authorities are now targeting a third such ship, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group said the Bella 1 has been “underway 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 decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
