Shell is in advanced talks with Venezuela's government to develop four large areas near Trinidad and Tobago, in two of the South American country's largest offshore natural gas fields, two people familiar with the discussions said.
The London-based energy major has been trying for years to advance the 4.2-trillion-cubic-feet Dragon gas field in Venezuelan waters and could make a final investment decision on the flagship project by the end of this year.
The sources said Shell now wants to include neighbouring areas, expanding its reach in the OPEC nation under the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
Shell is targeting access to the three fields that, along with Dragon, are part of the 12-tcf Mariscal Sucre project off Venezuela's eastern coast.
This is in addition to the 7.3-tcf Loran offshore area, part of a cross-border field that extends into Trinidad, for some 20 tcf of combined reserves, the people said.
In March, Shell executives signed preliminary deals in Caracas with Rodriguez's administration to move Dragon forward and possibly develop two coveted onshore oil and gas fields known as Carito and Pirital.
Shell expects to send the Venezuelan gas to Trinidad for processing into liquefied natural gas for export, a big push for its shared Atlantic LNG project, which has been unable to reach installed capacity due to insufficient gas supply.
Shell is already developing Trinidad's portion of the Loran-Manatee field. The British company operates the Trinidad side, while US major Chevron holds stakes in two blocks that include the Loran field on the Venezuela side.
Chevron is relinquishing its interests in those areas as part of a deal to expand extra-heavy oil projects at Venezuela's main crude region, the Orinoco Belt, Reuters reported last month. Loran is expected to be re-offered soon, two of the sources said.
"The proximity to Manatee makes Loran an attractive investment opportunity for Shell," Shell told Reuters in an email response on Tuesday, confirming its interest in the additional areas.
Venezuela's oil ministry, state-run PDVSA, Trinidad and Tobago's Ministry of Energy and Chevron did not respond to requests for comment.
"The plan is to drill subsea wells on the Loran side and tie them back to our Manatee platform in Trinidad, once we get the rest of the field. It is an easy fix and makes sense for us to produce the entire block," one person with knowledge of the negotiations said.
Shell holds a 45 per cent stake in the Atlantic LNG project in Trinidad, Latin America's largest LNG facility. The project originally had a capacity of 15.5 million tonnes per annum but has been reduced to 12 tonnes per annum because of lack of gas. The facility shipped under nine tonnes per annum last year, according to LSEG data.
Last week, Shell chief executive Wael Sawan told the CERAWeek conference in Houston that the company could greenlight up to two Venezuela projects this year if fiscal and legal conditions improve.
"What we are looking at at the moment is where we can add value to Venezuela," Sawan said. "Initially, I would say it's more geared towards gas, and in particular gas that can be monetized through LNG."
Trinidad and Shell have been seeking to boost domestic gas output and secure supplies from Venezuela, which lies only six miles from Trinidad at its closest point. The Mariscal Sucre fields — Dragon, Rio Caribe, Patao and Mejillones — sit closer to infrastructure in Trinidad than in Venezuela, whose vast offshore gas reserves remain largely undeveloped.
Previously, PDVSA had signed agreements giving Russia's Rosneft interests in Patao and Mejillones. Since last year, PDVSA was also looking for a company to develop Rio Caribe under a shared production contract, and it was unclear if it signed any preliminary agreement.
Rosneft's assets in Venezuela were transferred to Russia's state-owned Roszarubezhneft in 2020, but the fields remain untouched. Russian participation in those areas presents a hurdle to finalizing a Shell agreement, the people said.
"We are making progress, and yes, the assignment of the fields to the Russian company is a problem, but we will get over it. I am sure," a Shell source said.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams and Marianna Parraga, additional reporting Sheila Dang in Houston: Editing by Nathan Crooks and David Gregorio)