Imagery Data Reveals Initial Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Seized by American Authorities is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
American personnel roped onto the deck of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring information has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for reportedly transporting embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast 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 vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was incorrectly sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the capture of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are currently targeting a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk 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 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 drops”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
