Imagery Data Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by US is Now Near Texas.
American agents boarding the deck of the Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring information has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the US for allegedly carrying embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the tanker is in the vicinity of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking data from a maritime data service presently places the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under sanctions when it was brought under American control.
American agencies are now pursuing a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The group added the vessel is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
