Imagery Data Shows First Venezuelan Tanker Seized by US is Currently Near Texas.
US agents roped onto the deck of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for reportedly carrying sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the tanker is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic currently places the vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the flag of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a second oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
American agencies are currently pursuing a third such ship, which has been identified by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated recently 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 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “likely heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
