Satellite Image Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Seized by US is Currently Off the Texas Coast.
US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly carrying sanctioned crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently positioned near of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic currently positions the vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are now pursuing a third such ship, which has been identified by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group noted the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her speed decreases”.
The group further stated the vessel is “probably traveling south-east towards South Africa”.
