President Hugo Chavez announced the news via Twitter, saying all workers had been taken from the Aban Pearl rig, located close to Venezuela's far north east coast in a region close to the Caribbean islands.
A Venezuelan natural gas exploration rig sank in the Caribbean Sea early Thursday, but all 95 workers were evacuated safely and there was no leakage, the government said.
"Fortunately all our workers are safe and fortunately the well presents no risk to our environment," oil minister Rafael Ramirez told state TV, saying there was no gas escaping.
President Hugo Chavez announced the news via Twitter, saying all workers had been taken from the Aban Pearl rig, located close to Venezuela's far north east coast in a region close to the Caribbean islands such as Trinidad and Tobago.
"They were evacuated and at the moment two Navy patrols are moving to the area," Chavez said in a Tweet at 3.11 am local time (0741 GMT).
The accident comes just weeks after a rig owned by BP sank in the Gulf of Mexico, triggering one of the world's worst-ever oil spills.
OPEC member Venezuela has struggled to attract investment to develop its vast natural gas reserves, with offshore projects developing slowly and without any production so far.
Ramirez said the rig keeled over in the night before finally sinking at about 2 am. The region is known for strong waves, a state television reporter said.
"The safety valves activated along with an additional security mechanism, which allows us to affirm that we have stabilized the well and there is no risk of any kind of gas leak," Ramirez said.
It was too early to determine the cause, he added.
The semisubmersible rig was drilling some of the 16 gas wells in the Mariscal Sucre offshore natural gas project. It was installed last year and visited by Chavez.
Ramirez said the rig belonged to Petromarine Energy Services Ltd, which is a privately-held company based in Singapore.
Just last week, Chavez visited the platform to celebrate the end of early tests at the Dragon 6 field.
The Mariscal Sucre project is being developed by state-run PDVSA without participation from the private sector.
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