Satellite Image Reveals Initial Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Seized by US is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
American agents roped onto the vessel of the Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has confirmed that the crude carrier Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for allegedly transporting sanctioned crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the tanker is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently positions the Skipper about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. At the time it was seized, it was falsely flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – unlike the Skipper – was not under sanctions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are currently targeting a third such vessel, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her speed decreases”.
The group further stated the tanker is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
