Imagery Data Reveals Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by US is Now Near Texas.
American personnel roped onto the vessel of the Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring data has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for reportedly carrying embargoed oil from Venezuela – is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently places the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on 10 December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. When it was seized, it was falsely flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a second oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the Skipper – was not under sanctions when it was taken into American control.
American agencies are currently pursuing a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “probably traveling south-east towards the South African coast”.
