Imagery Image Shows Initial Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Off the Texas Coast.
US agents boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring data has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the US for reportedly carrying embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now positioned near of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently places the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was seized by US authorities on 10 December and has been blacklisted by several governments. At the time it was intercepted, it was incorrectly flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the interception of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under sanctions when it was brought under US custody.
US authorities are now targeting a third vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump said recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The group added the vessel is “probably traveling south-east towards South Africa”.
