Imagery Image Shows First Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by US is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
American personnel boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking data has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly carrying sanctioned oil from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking data from MarineTraffic currently places the Skipper about 80km offshore.
The Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several governments. When it was intercepted, it was incorrectly sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into American control.
American agencies are currently pursuing a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President 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 “in transit for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her speed drops”.
The monitoring service added the tanker is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
