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Satellite imagery and ship tracking information has verified that the oil tanker Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for allegedly carrying embargoed oil from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of Texas.

Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently positions the vessel about 80km offshore.

The tanker Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several nations. When it was seized, it was falsely sailing under the flag of Guyana.

This interception was followed by the interception of a another tanker, the Centuries. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under official restrictions when it was taken into American control.

US authorities are now targeting a third ship, which has been named by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated yesterday that “we’ll end up getting it”.

Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “in transit for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 knots, may have “approximately a month of diesel left unless her speed decreases”.

The group added the vessel is “probably heading in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.