🔗 Share this article Satellite Image Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Near the Texas Coast. US personnel boarding the vessel of the tanker Skipper on December 10th. Orbital data and vessel monitoring data has confirmed that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for allegedly carrying sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas. Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking data from a maritime data service currently places the vessel about 50 miles offshore. The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. At the time it was seized, it was falsely sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana. This interception was followed by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into American control. American agencies are currently targeting a third ship, which has been named by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1. The US President stated yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”. 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 typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel left unless her velocity drops”. The group further stated the tanker is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.