Imagery Data Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Seized by American Authorities is Currently Off Texas.

Satellite imagery and ship tracking data has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly transporting embargoed oil from Venezuela – is now off the coast of Texas.

A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently places the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.

The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the ensign of the nation of Guyana.

This interception was succeeded by the interception of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. It – unlike the Skipper – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into US custody.

US authorities are now targeting a third vessel, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.

Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group noted the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her speed decreases”.

The group added the vessel is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.