After 22 years of operations in Lake Maracaibo, Maersk Drilling announced yesterday they are pulling out.
The divestment from Venezuela includes the sale of 10 cantilevered offshore drilling barges to Panamanian firm Barrystar Holdings S.A. All of the barges are currently on contract to Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA) and locally operated by 900 employees under the company Maritime Contractors Venezuela S.A. (MCVSA).
“The divestment of Maersk Drilling’s drilling barge activities in Venezuela is in line with our strategy of focusing on developing and growing our core activities within the ultra deepwater and ultra harsh environment segments, and we concluded that Maersk Drilling was no longer the best owner of the activities in MCVSA,” commented Claus V. Hemmingsen, CEO of Maersk Drilling and member of the Executive Board in the Maersk Group.
Maersk said the transaction will result in a positive gain, but did not release further details. Last year, MCVSA’s turnover amounted to USD $195 million.
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