Imagery Image Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by US is Currently Near the Texas Coast.
US agents boarding the deck of the Skipper on December 10th.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has confirmed that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently positions the Skipper about 50 miles offshore.
The Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the flag of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the interception of a another tanker, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are now targeting a third such ship, which has been identified by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
