Imagery Data Shows Initial Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by US is Now Near the Texas Coast.
US personnel roped onto the vessel of the Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the US for allegedly carrying sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the tanker is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently places the vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. When it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the Skipper – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
American agencies are now pursuing a third such vessel, which has been identified by the maritime risk 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 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her speed decreases”.
The group further stated the vessel is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
