Venezuela releases Malaysian survey ship

Venezuela has released the Teknik Perdana, a Malaysian owned survey ship, and her 36 crew after being detained by Venezuelan authorities on the 10th October.

The Panamanian flagged vessel was seized by the Venezuelan navy whilst operating in disputed waters adjoining Venezuela and Guyana.  The ship was under charter to a US oil company, Anadarko Petroleum, which had been contracted to carry out the survey work by the Guyanese government.

The 1974 built ship vessel was taken under naval escort to Margarita Island to verify the ship’s claim it was conducting a geological survey.  The multinational crew, including US, UK, Russian, French and Brazilian nationals were questioned and documents examined before the ship was released.

In 2009 Venezuela had expropriated 11 ships belonging to American offshore operator Tidewater.