Imagery Data Reveals First Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Seized by US is Currently Off the Texas Coast.
US agents boarding the deck of the Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring data has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel seized by the US for allegedly carrying embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December shows the tanker is near Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking data from MarineTraffic currently positions the Skipper about 50 miles offshore.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was incorrectly sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are currently pursuing a third ship, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her speed drops”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
