American personnel boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly carrying sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now positioned near of Texas.
Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently places the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several nations. When it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the ensign of Guyana.
This seizure was followed by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was brought under US custody.
US authorities are currently targeting a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said recently that “it will ultimately be secured”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her velocity drops”.
The monitoring service added the tanker is “likely traveling south-east towards the South African coast”.
