Satellite Image Shows First Venezuelan Tanker Seized by US is Currently Near Texas.
US agents roped onto the deck of the Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking data has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for reportedly carrying embargoed crude from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December indicates the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking data from a maritime data service presently places the Skipper 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. When it was seized, it was falsely flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now targeting a third vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” 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 tanker is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
