Imagery Image Shows First Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Near Texas.
US agents boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the US for allegedly carrying embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently places the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the Skipper – was not under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now pursuing a third vessel, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated yesterday 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 average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her speed decreases”.
The group added the tanker is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
