Venezuelans board rig near border, leave after verifying operations are legal

Trinidad & Tobago's energy minister Kevin Ramnarine has confirmed that Venezuela's police, La Guardia Nacional, boarded a Petrotrin oil rig Wednesday to determine whether it was illegally operating in the Venezuelan oil zone.

Ramnarine told the Express newspaper the owner of the rig is a company called Well Services, which does drilling for Petrotrin. He said it was operating in the South West Soldado field within the Trinmar acreage, which is very close to the Venezuelan border.

The minister confirmed that the Venezuelans spent some time on the rig and then left. "We are investigating the matter and assembling all the facts before we make any statements," Ramnarine told the paper.Petrotrin president Khalid Hassanali confirmed to the paper that Petrotrin has been drilling in that area for some time. "It is in Trinidad waters," he stated. He also confirmed that the Guardia Nacional) boarded the rig and left after checking the geographic coordinates. "Nobody was harmed," he said.

"We're having diplomatic interventions to make sure that everything is fine to ensure that this does not happen again," he added.

A media release from Petrotrin gave details of the incident. It said Petrotrin personnel provided the necessary geographical coordinates which confirmed that the rig was indeed operating lawfully, well within the maritime borders of Trinidad and Tobago.

The President General of the Oilfield Workers' Trade Union (OWTU) has asked for a meeting with the company to discuss the matter with respect to the security of Petrotrin employees.