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Orbital data and ship tracking data has confirmed that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the US for allegedly transporting embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of Texas.

Vantor satellite imagery dated 21 December indicates the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service 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 several governments. When it was intercepted, it was falsely sailing under the ensign of Guyana.

This interception was followed by the capture of a another oil vessel, the Centuries tanker. This ship – in contrast to the Skipper – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into US custody.

US authorities are currently targeting a third such ship, which has been named by the risk management group a risk firm as the Bella 1 tanker. The US President stated yesterday 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 average speed of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel remaining unless her velocity drops”.

The monitoring service further stated the tanker is “probably traveling in a southeasterly direction towards the South African coast”.