Satellite Data Shows First Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Off Texas.
US agents boarding the vessel of the Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking data has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of Texas.
A satellite firm's satellite imagery dated 21 December indicates the ship is near the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently positions the vessel about 80km from the coast.
The Skipper was seized by US authorities on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. At the time it was seized, it was falsely flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now pursuing a third ship, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service added the tanker is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
