🔗 Share this article Imagery Image Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by American Authorities is Now Off Texas. American personnel roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on 10 December. Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has confirmed that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for allegedly transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas. Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking data from a maritime data service currently places the vessel about 80km from the coast. The Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the ensign of Guyana. This seizure was succeeded by the capture of a second oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control. US authorities are now pursuing a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President said yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”. Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group noted the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel remaining unless her velocity drops”. The group added the vessel is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.