Satellite Image Shows First Venezuelan Oil Ship Seized by US is Currently Off Texas.
US agents boarding the vessel 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 allegedly carrying embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is near Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently positions the vessel about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was brought under US custody.
American agencies are now pursuing a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her speed drops”.
The group added the vessel is “probably heading south-east towards the South African coast”.
