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Orbital data and ship tracking data has verified that the crude carrier named Skipper – the first vessel apprehended by the US for allegedly carrying sanctioned oil from Venezuela – is now off the coast of Texas.

Vantor satellite imagery from 21 December shows the ship is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service currently positions the vessel about 50 miles offshore.

The tanker Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. At the time it was seized, it was falsely flying the flag of the nation of Guyana.

This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a another tanker, the Centuries. This ship – unlike the first vessel – was not under official restrictions when it was brought under US custody.

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

Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group noted the Bella 1 has been “in transit for over a month” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel remaining unless her speed drops”.

The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “likely traveling in a southeasterly direction towards South Africa”.