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Satellite imagery and vessel monitoring information has verified that the oil tanker named Skipper – the first vessel seized by the United States for reportedly transporting embargoed crude from the Venezuelan regime – is currently positioned near of the state of Texas.

A satellite firm's satellite imagery dated 21 December indicates the ship is in the vicinity of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic presently positions the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast.

The Skipper was seized by American officials on the tenth of December and has been sanctioned by several governments. At the time it was seized, it was falsely sailing under the flag of the nation of Guyana.

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

American agencies are currently targeting a third such vessel, which has been named by the maritime risk group a risk firm as the Bella 1. President Donald Trump said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.

Writing on X, the TankerTrackers group said the 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 fuel left unless her velocity decreases”.

The monitoring service added the vessel is “likely traveling south-east towards South Africa”.