Imagery Data Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Seized by US is Currently Near Texas.
American personnel roped onto the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for reportedly carrying sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is now positioned near of the state of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the ship is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently positions the vessel about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on 10 December and has been sanctioned by several nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was incorrectly flying the flag of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the interception of a second oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. It – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
US authorities are now pursuing a third ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her speed decreases”.
The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
