🔗 Share this article Imagery Data Reveals First Venezuelan Oil Ship Confiscated by US is Currently Off Texas. American personnel roped onto the deck of the tanker Skipper on December 10th. Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for allegedly carrying sanctioned crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently positioned near of Texas. A satellite firm's orbital photographs from 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while AIS vessel-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic currently places the vessel about 50 miles from the coast. The Skipper was seized by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. When it was seized, it was incorrectly sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana. This interception was followed by the interception of a second oil vessel, the Centuries. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under official restrictions when it was brought under American control. American agencies are currently targeting a third ship, which has been identified by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”. Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her velocity drops”. The group added the tanker is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.