Satellite Data Shows First Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Near the Texas Coast.
US personnel roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently positioned near of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently positions the Skipper about 80km offshore.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
US authorities are now targeting a third such vessel, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel remaining unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “probably heading south-east towards the South African coast”.