Imagery Image Shows First Venezuelan Tanker Seized by US is Now Off Texas.
American agents boarding the vessel of the Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and vessel monitoring data has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly transporting embargoed oil from Venezuela – is now positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the tanker is near Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently places the vessel about 80km offshore.
The tanker Skipper was seized by US authorities on 10 December and has been blacklisted by several nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the flag of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the Skipper – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody.
US authorities are currently targeting a third ship, which has been named by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1. The US President said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel remaining unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service added the tanker is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
