Satellite Image Shows First Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by US is Now Off the Texas Coast.
American personnel roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking data has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the US for allegedly transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the ship is near Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic currently places the Skipper about 80km offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. When it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under sanctions when it was brought under American control.
US authorities are currently targeting a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group said the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her speed decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
