🔗 Share this article Satellite Image Shows Initial Venezuela-Linked Tanker Confiscated by US is Currently Off the Texas Coast. American agents roped onto the vessel of the Skipper on 10 December. Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has confirmed that the crude carrier named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for reportedly transporting embargoed oil from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas. Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December shows the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic currently places the Skipper about 50 miles offshore. The Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. When it was intercepted, it was incorrectly flying the ensign of Guyana. This interception was followed by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was brought under American control. US authorities are now pursuing a third such vessel, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”. Writing on the social media platform X, the TankerTrackers group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for over a month” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her speed decreases”. The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “likely heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.