Satellite Data Shows Initial Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Off the Texas Coast.
American agents boarding the vessel of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly transporting embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic currently positions the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on 10 December and has been blacklisted by several governments. At the time it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the ensign of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
American agencies are currently targeting a third such vessel, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1. The US President said recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her velocity decreases”.
The group further stated the tanker is “probably heading south-east towards South Africa”.