Satellite Image Shows First Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Now Near Texas.
US agents boarding the vessel of the Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the US for allegedly transporting embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.
A satellite firm's satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the ship is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently places the Skipper about 50 miles offshore.
The Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple governments. When it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now pursuing a third such ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1. The US President stated yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “probably traveling south-east towards South Africa”.
