Satellite Image Shows First Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Confiscated by American Authorities is Currently Off the Texas Coast.
American agents roped onto the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel seized by the US for reportedly transporting embargoed oil from Venezuela – is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data from a maritime data service currently positions the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now targeting a third such vessel, which has been named by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”.
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 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “probably traveling south-east towards South Africa”.
