Imagery Image Reveals First Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Off the Texas Coast.
US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking data has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the US for allegedly transporting sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking data from a maritime data service currently positions the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
American agencies are currently targeting a third ship, which has been identified by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump said recently 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 over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “probably heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
