The Malaysian owners of the U.S.-hired oil survey ship seized last week by Venezuela in Guyana’s waters said the boat and its 36-member crew have been released by the authorities in Caracas.
According to a Reuters news article, there was no confirmation of that from either the government of Venezuela or Guyana and the Venezuelan public prosecutor’s office put out a statement detailing the formal charging of the ship’s Ukrainian captain.
The Panama-flagged ‘Teknik Perdana’ was carrying out a seabed survey for Texas-based Anadarko in conjunction with Guyanese authorities, when Venezuela’s navy boarded it last Thursday and escorted it to Margarita Island.
Reviving a century-old issue with Guyana, Venezuela accused the ship of violating its maritime territory. The government of Guyana retorted that the ship was well within its territory and the seizure was an act of aggression.
According to the Malaysian owner, SapuraKencana Petroleum, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government had decided to free the vessel.
“We wish to express our gratitude to the Venezuelan government for caring for the safety and welfare of the crew, which comprises multiple nationalities, during the time they were at Margarita Island and also for releasing the vessel,” the Kuala Lumpur-based company said in a statement.
A planned meeting between foreign ministers of the two South American countries in Trinidad and Tobago – to discuss the saga of the ship and a century-old border issue – was scheduled to be held on Thursday, Guyanese officials said.
Casting doubt on the version from Malaysia, the Venezuelan public prosecutor’s office said the ship’s Ukrainian captain Igor Bekirov had been charged at Margarita Island for failing to respect the boundaries of a security zone.
He was awaiting further court appearances, it said. Guyanese officials said the ship’s three dozen crew included citizens of eight countries: the United States, Russia, France, Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia, Panama and Ukraine. Oil companies have been increasingly interested in the north-eastern shoulder of South America since a discovery off nearby French Guiana in 2011 that industry experts described as a game-changer for the region’s energy prospects.
Guyana awarded Anadarko Petroleum, a deep-water exploration licence in June last year for a block named Roraima.
Venezuela and Guyana have long argued about the status of the Essequibo region; an area on the border about the size of the U.S. state of Georgia, and over rights to the ocean resources that lie offshore.
SapuraKencana said its president and group CEO Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin had met Venezuela’s ambassador to Malaysia to try and resolve the matter.
“At that meeting, the Venezuelan ambassador gave a firm assurance that the crew was safe and were being treated well by the authorities there,” it said, adding that Malaysia’s envoy in Venezuela had rushed to the island of Margarita to help mediate the situation.
An armed Venezuelan naval ship last Thursday evicted the U.S. oil explorer from Guyana’s waters, sparking condemnation from the Donald Ramotar administration and the main opposition coalition A Partnership For National Unity (APNU).
A Foreign Affairs Ministry statement had described the incident as “unprecedented in Guyana-Venezuela relations”. It insists that the seismic vessel, the RV Teknik Perdana, was in “Guyana’s waters when this regrettable incident took place”. The seismic vessel was contracted by Anadarko, one of world’s largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies, based in the United States. Anadarko has a petroleum prospecting licence to search for hydrocarbons in the Roraima block offshore Guyana. According to the ministry’s statement, the Yekuma – an oceangoing offshore patrol boat that monitors the exclusive economic zone – trailed the seismic vessel before obstructing its path. Crew members were required to change their route and were directed to Margarita Island off Venezuela.
