🔗 Share this article Imagery Image Reveals Initial Venezuelan Tanker Confiscated by American Authorities is Currently Near Texas. US agents boarding the deck of the Skipper on 10 December. Orbital data and ship tracking data has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the US for reportedly carrying sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of the state of Texas. Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the ship is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently places the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast. The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on 10 December and has been blacklisted by several nations. At the time it was seized, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of Guyana. This interception was succeeded by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries. It – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under American control. American agencies are now targeting a third such vessel, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”. Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel remaining unless her velocity drops”. The group added the tanker is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.