Venezuela Detains Anadarko-Contracted Survey Vessel in Disputed Waters

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) — Anadarko Petroleum Corp., the third- largest independent U.S. oil and natural gas producer, said it’s working for the release of a research vessel and its crew after Guyana said Venezuela detained the ship in disputed waters yesterday.

The MV Teknik Perdana “was under contract to our company and conducting a seafloor survey on behalf the government of Guyana,” John Christiansen, a spokesman for the Woodlands, Texas-based company, said in an e-mail today.

Venezuela intercepted the vessel while it was surveying the seabed at the Roraima offshore license, Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement posted on its website today. The ship was escorted to Venezuela’s Margarita Island and its crew arrested, Guyana said. A spokeswoman for the Venezuelan Navy had no immediate comment.

Guyana said the ship was in its territorial waters when the incident occurred. The Guyanese government granted Anadarko the offshore license last year.

Venezuela and Guyana have had border disputes since 1841, according to the U.S. State Department. Venezuela has said its border extends as far east as the Essequibo River, a dispute that extends to nearby Atlantic waters rich in natural gas.

– Anatoly Kurmanaev and Peter Ward, Copyright 2013 Bloomberg.

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