Satellite Image Reveals First Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Seized by American Authorities is Now Off Texas.
American personnel roped onto the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela – is now positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is near the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking data from a maritime data service presently places the Skipper about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. At the time it was seized, 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. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under sanctions when it was brought under US custody.
American agencies are now targeting a third such ship, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. The US President said yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
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 average speed of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her speed drops”.
The group further stated the vessel is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
