BP will develop Venezuela's Cocuina-Manakin gas field, on the maritime border with Trinidad and Tobago, as well as explore joint opportunities in the offshore Loran gas field, the company and government said on Wednesday after signing a memorandum of understanding.
Venezuela has recently signed exploration and other deals with several international producers, including Italy's Eni and Spain's Repsol, as it opens its oil industry to foreign investment following the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro by US forces in January.
"The return of BP is a clear sign of the future we want to chart for Venezuela and for international energy relations — relationships based on respect, cooperation grounded in a win-win approach, and shared benefits that contribute to the development of the Venezuelan people," Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez told attendees at a brief signing ceremony broadcast on state television.
William Lin, BP's executive vice president for gas and low carbon energy, said the company was pleased to be partners with Venezuela on the exploration of the Loran area, as well as on other projects, including the commercialisation of gas. Shell has also expressed interest in Loran.
The MOU signed on Wednesday also, "formalised the launch of gas development at the Cocuina-Manakin field," a gas field that crosses the border between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, Rodriguez's office said in a statement.
Cocuina, which on the Venezuelan side is part of the inactive Deltana Platform project, extends into Trinidad, where a BP subsidiary operates it as Block 5b.
Rodriguez's office said the agreement, "represents a milestone for the national energy industry by reactivating the multinational’s presence in key areas of the Deltana Platform."
BP said in February it was seeking a licence from the US Government to develop the Manakin-Cocuina gas field.
The company wants to develop the field to bring more than one trillion cubic feet of gas to Trinidad to convert into liquefied natural gas for export.
(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago and Marianna Parraga; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)