Imagery Data Shows First Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Off Texas.

Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for allegedly transporting embargoed oil from Venezuela – is currently off the coast of Texas.

Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking data from a maritime data service presently places the vessel about 80km offshore.

The Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several nations. At the time it was seized, it was incorrectly sailing under the ensign of Guyana.

This seizure was followed by the interception of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into American control.

US authorities are now targeting a third such vessel, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”.

Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her velocity decreases”.

The monitoring service added the vessel is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.