Imagery Data Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Seized by US is Currently Off Texas.
US agents boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has confirmed that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly transporting sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the ship is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently places the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by US authorities on 10 December and has been blacklisted by several governments. When it was seized, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
American agencies are now targeting a third such ship, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard 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 “underway for over a month” 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 vessel is “likely heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
