Imagery Image Shows Initial Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
American agents roped onto the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the US for allegedly transporting embargoed oil from Venezuela – is now positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December shows the tanker is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently places the vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several governments. When it was intercepted, it was incorrectly sailing under the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
US authorities are currently pursuing a third vessel, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said 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 “underway for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her speed decreases”.
The group further stated the tanker is “probably heading south-east towards South Africa”.
