🔗 Share this article Satellite Image Shows First Venezuelan Oil Ship Seized by American Authorities is Now Off the Texas Coast. US agents roped onto the vessel of the tanker Skipper on 10 December. Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for reportedly carrying sanctioned crude from Venezuela – is now positioned near of the state of Texas. A satellite firm's orbital photographs dated 21 December shows the ship is near the port of Galveston, while AIS ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently places the Skipper about 80km from the coast. The Skipper was taken into custody by American officials on 10 December and has been blacklisted by several governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely flying the flag of Guyana. This seizure was followed by the capture of a second tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody. US authorities are now pursuing a third such vessel, which has been named by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump stated recently that “it will ultimately be secured”. Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of fuel remaining unless her speed decreases”. The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.