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Orbital data and ship tracking information has verified that the crude carrier Skipper – the initial vessel seized by the United States for reportedly carrying sanctioned oil from the Venezuelan regime – is currently off the coast of the state of Texas.

A satellite firm's orbital photographs dated 21 December shows the tanker is in the vicinity of the port of Galveston, while Automatic Identification System ship-tracking feeds from MarineTraffic currently places the Skipper about 50 miles from the coast.

The Skipper was taken into custody by US authorities on the tenth of December and has been blacklisted by several nations. At the time it was intercepted, it was incorrectly sailing under the flag of Guyana.

This seizure was succeeded by the interception of a another tanker, the Centuries tanker. It – in contrast to the first vessel – was not yet under sanctions when it was taken into American control.

American agencies are now pursuing a third such ship, which has been identified by the risk management group Vanguard as the Bella 1 tanker. President Donald Trump said recently that “we’ll end up getting it”.

Writing on X, the maritime monitoring group noted the vessel 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 left unless her velocity drops”.

The monitoring service further stated the vessel is “likely heading south-east towards South Africa”.