Satellite Image Reveals First Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Near the Texas Coast.
American personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela – is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the tanker is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic currently places the Skipper about 80km offshore.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on 10 December and has been blacklisted by several governments. At the time it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the flag of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
American agencies are now targeting a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump 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 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The group further stated the vessel is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
