Imagery Data Shows Initial Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by American Authorities is Currently Off the Texas Coast.
US agents roped onto the deck of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly transporting embargoed crude from Venezuela – is currently off the coast of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December indicates the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently positions the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the first vessel – was not under sanctions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are currently targeting a third such vessel, 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 TankerTrackers group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” 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 South Africa”.
