Imagery Image Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by US is Currently Off Texas.
US personnel roped onto the vessel of the Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now positioned near of Texas.
A satellite firm's satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently places the vessel about 80km from the coast.
The Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the flag of Guyana.
This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody.
American agencies are now targeting a third vessel, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her speed drops”.
The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
