Satellite Data Shows First Venezuelan Oil Ship Seized by American Authorities is Now Off Texas.
American personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is currently off the coast of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is near Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently positions the Skipper about 80km offshore.
The Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several nations. When it was seized, it was falsely sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody.
American agencies are now targeting a third vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The monitoring service added the tanker is “likely heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
