It also said in a statement to Reuters that recent political developments made managing assets for the Venezuelan government “an almost impossible task”, and it was working on returning Venezuelan vessels to PDVSA’s maritime arm PDV Marina and its subsidiaries.
The third party shipmanagement company, which manages a 15 PDVSA-owned vessels and has worked in Venezuela for almost 25 years, said returning tankers to PDV Marina has proven to be “a difficult task considering the lack of resources” in the country.
“Nevertheless, our intention is to try and hand back all the vessels to PDV Marina and its subsidiaries as soon as practically possible,” the statement added.
Last Tuesday, PDV Marina declared an emergency, due to lack of staff to receive the vessels back from BSM, due to unpaid bills of at least $15 mill.
At least 10 vessels had BSM crews on board last Thursday, according to a company source. In addition, two other vessels operated by BSM for PDVSA remain anchored in Portuguese waters without crew, plus one in Curacao, Reuters claimed.