Satellite imagessuggestseized tanker 'deliberately' manipulated location data

An ABC News analysis of satellite imagery and tracking data shows the oil tanker seized by the United States off the coast of Venezuela on Wednesday may have manipulated its location data -- an apparent attempt, experts said, to circumvent restrictions imposed by sanctions.The crude oil tanker, named the "The Skipper," according to four people familiar with the operation, was sanctioned by the U.S.in 2022.Digital broadcast signals emitted from the vessel’s transponder and tracked by analytics company Kpler placed the Skipper near Guyana’s offshore between November and December.

However, more than a dozen satellite images verified by ABC News confirmed Skipper was in fact operating in waters off the coast of Barcelona, Venezuela, around 550 miles away during this same period.Over a dozen satellite Images show The Skipper off the coast of Barcelona, Venezuela from October 30th to December 4th, 2025.TankerTrackers.com/Copernicus Sentinel/Felt MapsCiting a "pattern of deliberate obfuscation," Dimitris Ampatzidis, a senior risk and compliance manager at Kpler, told ABC News the allegedly "spoofed signals" indicate "a broader pattern of sanctions evasion logistics."MORE: US seizes tanker off coast of Venezuela, Trump saysSatellite imagery captured by two providers appears to show the Skipper loading barrels of crude at Venezuela’s José Oil Terminal on Nov.14, followed by a third sighting there by Planet Labs on Nov.

18.A satellite image shows the Skipper at José oil terminal off the coast of Barcelona, Venezuela on November 14 , 2025.Planet Labs PBCAn image taken by TankerTrackers.com, an organization that monitors global oil shipping, also shows the Skipper at the José oil terminal in a similar time period.Satellite images captured the Skipper continuously off the coast of Barcelona between Oct.30 and Dec.

4, as its signal was allegedly being spoofed.A photo of the Skipper off the coast of Barcelona, Venezuela around November 2025.TankerTrackers.comIn a state...

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Disclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by PaprClips.
Publisher: ABC News

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