Imagery Image Reveals First Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
American agents roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring information has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the US for reportedly transporting embargoed crude from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data from a maritime data service currently places the Skipper about 80km from the coast.
The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the flag of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
US authorities are currently targeting a third vessel, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group said 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 fuel remaining unless her speed decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
