Satellite Data Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Seized by American Authorities is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for allegedly transporting sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently positions the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. At the time it was seized, it was falsely flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are currently targeting a third vessel, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her velocity decreases”.
The monitoring service added the tanker is “likely heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
