Imagery Data Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
American personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has confirmed that the crude carrier Skipper – the first vessel seized by the US for reportedly transporting embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from a maritime data service presently places the vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. When it was seized, it was falsely sailing under the flag of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was brought under US custody.
American agencies are currently targeting a third vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm 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 vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The group further stated the vessel is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
