Satellite Image Reveals Initial Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Seized by US is Now Near the Texas Coast.
US personnel boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring data has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for allegedly carrying embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the tanker is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently places the Skipper about 50 miles offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the interception of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – unlike the Skipper – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody.
American agencies are currently targeting a third vessel, which has been named by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group said 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 remaining unless her speed decreases”.
The group further stated the vessel is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
