Satellite Data Shows First Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by US is Currently Off Texas.
US personnel roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring data has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for reportedly transporting sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is now positioned near of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking data from a maritime data service currently positions the vessel about 80km from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on 10 December and has been sanctioned by multiple governments. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
American agencies are now pursuing a third ship, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on X, the maritime monitoring 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 diesel left unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “probably heading south-east towards South Africa”.
