🔗 Share this article Satellite Data Reveals Initial Venezuelan Tanker Seized by US is Currently Off Texas. US agents boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th. Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly transporting embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas. Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December shows the ship is near Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently places the vessel about 80km from the coast. The 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 incorrectly flying the flag of the nation of Guyana. This seizure was followed by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody. American agencies are now targeting a third such ship, which has been named by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”. Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted 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 further stated the tanker is “probably heading south-east towards the South African coast”.