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Orbital data and ship tracking data has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the initial vessel apprehended by the United States for allegedly transporting embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is now off the coast of Texas.

Vantor orbital photographs dated 21 December indicates the tanker is near the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently positions the Skipper about 80km from the coast.

The tanker Skipper was seized by US authorities on 10 December and has been blacklisted by several nations. When it was intercepted, it was incorrectly sailing under the ensign of Guyana.

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

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

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 nautical miles per hour, may have “approximately a month of fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.

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