American agents boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th.
Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now positioned near of Texas.
A satellite firm's satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic currently places the vessel about 50 miles from the coast.
The Skipper was seized by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by several nations. When it was seized, it was incorrectly flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.
This interception was succeeded by the capture of a another tanker, the Centuries. This ship – unlike the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.
US authorities are now targeting a third such vessel, which has been identified by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.
Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel remaining unless her speed decreases”.
The group added the tanker is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.
Tech enthusiast and gaming expert with over a decade of experience in PC hardware reviews and community building.