BP, UAE and Qatar Enter Venezuela with the Loran Field License

British BP signed an agreement on August 13 with the Venezuelan government to develop Phase 2 of the Loran gas field, with UAE's XRG and Qatar's UCC Holding as partners. The field holds estimated reserves of 7.5 trillion cubic feet, according to figures from state company PDVSA.

The deal, also reported by Bloomberg, covers seven reservoirs on the deltaic platform of the Orinoco River, on Venezuela's Atlantic coast, and opens the door to Persian Gulf capital in the Caribbean basin. In January, a new Hydrocarbons Law was approved that opened the sector to foreign investment, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury subsequently eased sanctions on Venezuelan hydrocarbons, expanding the operating capacity of American and other countries' companies. Loran is located adjacent to the Manatí field, on the Trinidad and Tobago side, with whom Venezuela agreed in 2015 on the joint development of binational fields.

The field is the Venezuelan counterpart of the binational Loran-Manatí complex. In June, PDVSA signed five agreements with Shell for Phase 1 of the same field, and the license now obtained by BP adds to that development. For XRG, ADNOC's international arm, and for Qatar's UCC Holding, this is their first operation in Venezuela. 'I have a particular passion for gas for national development, to give impetus to industrial processes in Venezuela, to petrochemicals,' said acting president Delcy Rodríguez, following the signing at the Miraflores palace, where BP's chief executive Meg O'Neill was present. Loran's gas is aimed at both national petrochemicals and, in a regional context, at Trinidad and Tobago's Atlantic LNG liquefaction plant, where BP and Shell hold stakes.

The next milestone is the destination of Loran's gas: Trinidad and Tobago's Atlantic LNG liquefaction plant or Venezuelan petrochemicals. The Phase 2 license remains subject to final authorizations and regulatory permits, and the entry of XRG and UCC sets a precedent for new Persian Gulf investment in the Caribbean basin.

This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.