Satellite Image Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker 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 information has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently positioned near of Texas.
A satellite firm's satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic currently positions the Skipper about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the flag of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. It – unlike the first vessel – was not under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are currently targeting a third ship, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. The US President said recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit 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 decreases”.
The monitoring service added the tanker is “probably traveling south-east towards the South African coast”.