Imagery Image Shows First Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Off the Texas Coast.
American personnel boarding the vessel of the Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking information has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed crude from Venezuela – is currently off the coast of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently places the vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. At the time it was intercepted, it was incorrectly flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – in contrast to the Skipper – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
American agencies are currently targeting a third such vessel, which has been named by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel left unless her speed decreases”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “likely traveling south-east towards South Africa”.
