A natural gas exploration rig sank off the coast of Venezuela early Thursday, but the nearly 100 workers aboard were safely evacuated and the accident poses no environmental risk, officials said.

The Aban Pearl rig, owned by India-based Aban Offshore Ltd. (523204.BY), and operated by state-run energy firm Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, in eastern Venezuela , near Trinidad and Tobago . Its sinking was announced by President Hugo Chavez in a pre-dawn message sent from his Twitter account.

"To my sorrow, I want to inform that the natural gas platform Aban Pearl sank a few moments ago," Chavez said. "The good news is that the 95 workers are safe."

PDVSA President Rafael Ramirez, who is also the country's oil minister, said rig workers began reporting problems at about 11 p.m. local time Wednesday night, and it began taking on water after midnight, at which point all workers were safely evacuated. The rig was completely sunk by 2:20 a.m. , he said, and Navy patrols are in the area.

"The connections between the rig and the well were disconnected," Ramirez told state television by telephone while en route to the area. "There's no risk of any escape of gas...and there's no environmental risk."

Ramirez said an investigation into the sinking will begin soon, in coordination with a company from India that owns the rig. The website of Aban Offshore indicates it's the owner of the rig, but company officials weren't immediately available.

The oil minister said the semisubmergible rig was fully checked out before being installed.

"Before being operations, it was repaired, inspected and certified," he said.

The rig is part of the Campo Dragon gas field, which is being developed under the Mariscal Sucre project, previously known as the Cristobal Colon project.

The rig had recently been moved, and just one week ago Ramirez stood atop the Aban Pearl, broadcasting on live national television about the Campo Dragon field and its prospects for providing natural gas to the domestic market.

Venezuela has huge offshore reserves of natural gas, but so far nothing has been extracted. The Mariscal Sucre project, where the rig sank, has estimated reserves of 14.7 trillion cubic feet of gas. Chavez said the sinking won't prevent further offshore exploration.

"We will move forward, and OVERCOME," Chavez tweeted in later messages, adding that plans for exploration and extraction of natural gas would continue.

Chavez added: "Long live Venezuela ."

The Aban Pearl rig was operating at a depth of 160 meters, according to data from PDVSA's website. The Aban Offshore website says the rig can operate at a depth of 1,250 feet, or about 380 meters.

PDVSA began talking about getting a semisubmergible rig for the Mariscal Sucre project in 2008.

The Aban Pearl rig was towed to the Campo Dragon gas field and delivered to PDVSA during the last days of 2009 by Fairmount Marine, a company based in the Netherlands .

Andre Boelaars, manager of operation at Fairmount Marine in Rotterdam , told Dow Jones Newswires by telephone that the rig was towed to Venezuela from nearby Trinidad .

He added that had been sitting in Trinidad "for a long time," and that Fairmount had originally towed it from Singapore . Boelaars said he wasn't certain exactly how long it had been in Trinidad .

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