Satellite Image Shows Initial Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Off Texas.
US agents boarding the deck of the Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the US for allegedly transporting embargoed crude from Venezuela – is now off the coast of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from a maritime data service presently positions the Skipper about 80km offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized 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 ensign of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the interception of a another tanker, the Centuries. It – unlike the Skipper – was not under sanctions when it was brought under US custody.
US authorities are now pursuing a third such ship, which has been identified by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group noted the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
