🔗 Share this article Satellite Data Reveals First Venezuela-Linked Tanker Seized by US is Currently Near the Texas Coast. US personnel boarding the deck of the tanker Skipper on 10 December. Orbital data and vessel monitoring data has confirmed that the crude carrier Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the US for allegedly carrying sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of Texas. Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December shows 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 80km offshore. The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by multiple governments. 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 – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody. American agencies are now targeting a third such ship, which has been identified by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that “it will ultimately be secured”. Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her speed drops”. The monitoring service added the vessel is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.