Satellite Data Shows First Venezuelan Tanker Seized by US is Now Near Texas.
American personnel boarding 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 apprehended by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed oil from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.
A satellite firm's satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently positions the vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. When it was seized, it was incorrectly sailing under the ensign of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
American agencies are now targeting a third vessel, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel left unless her speed decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “likely heading south-east towards South Africa”.
