🔗 Share this article Satellite Data Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Seized by US is Currently Off Texas. American personnel roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on 10 December. Satellite imagery and ship tracking data has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas. A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking data from MarineTraffic currently places the Skipper about 50 miles offshore. The tanker Skipper was seized by US authorities on 10 December and has been blacklisted by several governments. At the time it was intercepted, it was incorrectly flying the flag of Guyana. This interception was succeeded by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not under official restrictions when it was taken into American control. US authorities are currently targeting 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 the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her speed decreases”. The group added the tanker is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.