Satellite Data Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Near Texas.
American personnel boarding the deck of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly carrying sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the tanker is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data 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 sanctioned by several nations. At the time it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the flag of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody.
US authorities are currently targeting a third vessel, which has been identified by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump said yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “underway 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 velocity drops”.
The monitoring service added the tanker is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
