Satellite Image Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Seized by American Authorities is Now Off Texas.
US agents boarding the deck of the Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring information has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for allegedly transporting sanctioned crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December indicates the tanker is near Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently positions the vessel about 80km offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. When it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a second oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.
American agencies are currently pursuing a third ship, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump said yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel remaining unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
