Satellite Data Reveals First Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Off Texas.
American agents roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for allegedly transporting embargoed crude from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic presently positions the vessel about 80km from the coast.
The Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. When it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was followed by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are now pursuing a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1. The US President stated yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the vessel 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 decreases”.
The group added the vessel is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
