Satellite Data Shows First Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Now Off Texas.
US personnel roped onto the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking data has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for allegedly transporting embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from a maritime data service currently places the vessel about 80km offshore.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several governments. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the flag of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the interception of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into American control.
American agencies are now pursuing a third vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her velocity decreases”.
The group further stated the vessel is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
