Two SBM Offshore engineers, detained for more than two years in Equatorial Guinea, have returned home over the weekend after receiving a presidential pardon. The two engineers, Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham of South Africa, were arrested in February 2023 under drug trafficking charges. The two had been working in Equatorial Guinea for more than a decade on oil and gas vessels for the Dutch floater expert. After a trial in June that same year, the men were handed 12-year prison sentences and ordered to pay $5m each in damages. The court sentence was handed out regardless of no evidence found in sealed, combination-locked luggage. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention intervened in July 2024, calling for their immediate release. While imprisoned in Mongomo, a facility reserved for political prisoners, their families started a campaign for their release, pleading for clemency and even urging the South African government to intervene on behalf of their citizens. Following the release of the engineers, the families thanked SBM Offshore, the South African and British governments, as well as diplomatic partners, legal teams, and civil organisations that helped bring the two back home. This comes just a couple of weeks after SBM Offshore divested its equity interest in the lease and operating entities of the FPSO Aseng to GEPetrol. This means that the company will formally exit Equatorial Guinea following an operational transition phase lasting up to 12 months. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsEquatorial Guinea Netherlands South Africa