Satellite Data Shows Initial Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Off Texas.
US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the US for allegedly transporting embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December indicates the tanker is in the vicinity of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking data from a maritime data service currently places the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several governments. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are now targeting a third such ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard 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 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel remaining unless her speed drops”.
The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “likely heading south-east towards South Africa”.
