Imagery Data Reveals Initial Venezuelan Oil Ship Seized by American Authorities is Now Off the Texas Coast.

Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the first vessel seized by the US for allegedly transporting sanctioned crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of the state of Texas.

A satellite firm's satellite imagery from 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking data from a maritime data service currently places the Skipper about 80km from the coast.

The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by multiple nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.

This interception was followed by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.

US authorities are currently pursuing a third 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 noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her velocity drops”.

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