Satellite Image Shows First Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Near the Texas Coast.
US agents boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring data has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for allegedly transporting embargoed oil from Venezuela – is currently off the coast of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently places the vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was incorrectly sailing under the ensign of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a second oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the Skipper – was not under sanctions when it was brought under American control.
US authorities are now targeting a third such ship, which has been identified by the risk management 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 said the Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel remaining unless her speed drops”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
