🔗 Share this article Satellite Data Shows First Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by US is Now Off Texas. US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th. Orbital data and ship tracking information has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the US for reportedly transporting embargoed crude from Venezuela – is now off the coast of the state of Texas. Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is near the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently places the vessel about 80km offshore. The Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple governments. At the time it was seized, it was falsely flying the flag of the nation of Guyana. This seizure was followed by the interception of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. It – unlike the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control. American agencies are currently pursuing a third ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”. Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “another 28 to 35 days of fuel left unless her speed decreases”. The group further stated the vessel is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.