Imagery Image Reveals Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Seized by US is Currently Off Texas.
US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly transporting embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is now positioned near of Texas.
A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently places the vessel about 50 miles offshore.
The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several governments. When it was seized, it was falsely flying the ensign of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are currently pursuing a third vessel, which has been identified by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her speed drops”.
The monitoring service added the vessel is “likely heading south-east towards South Africa”.
