Imagery Image Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by US is Now Off Texas.
US agents boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly transporting embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December indicates 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 tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the ensign of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
US authorities are currently pursuing a third such vessel, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her velocity decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
