American agents roped onto the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December.
Orbital data and ship tracking data has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for reportedly transporting sanctioned crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently positioned near of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently positions the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The 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 ensign of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the capture of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under American control.
US authorities are currently pursuing a third such vessel, which has been identified by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel remaining unless her velocity decreases”.
The group further stated the vessel is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.
