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Orbital data and ship tracking information has confirmed that the crude carrier Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for reportedly transporting sanctioned oil from Venezuela – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.

Vantor orbital photographs from 21 December indicates the ship is near Galveston, while Automatic Identification System vessel-tracking feeds from a maritime data service presently places the vessel about 50 miles offshore.

The Skipper was seized by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by multiple nations. At the time it was seized, it was falsely sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.

This interception was followed by the interception of a another tanker, the Centuries. It – 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 named by the maritime risk group Vanguard as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump stated recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.

Writing on the social media platform X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel Bella 1 has been “underway for 39 days” and, at an typical pace of 11 nautical miles per hour, may have “another 28 to 35 days of diesel left unless her speed decreases”.

The group added the tanker is “likely traveling south-east towards the South African coast”.