Imagery Data Reveals First Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring data has confirmed that the crude carrier named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December indicates the ship is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently places the vessel about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple governments. At the time it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the flag of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a second oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into American control.
American agencies are now targeting a third such vessel, which has been identified by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her speed decreases”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
