Satellite Data Shows First Venezuelan Oil Ship Seized by American Authorities is Now Off the Texas Coast.
American personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December indicates the ship is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently places the vessel about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
US authorities are now pursuing a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1. The US President stated yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “likely traveling south-east towards South Africa”.
