BP has announced plans to develop the second phase of the Loran gasfield offshore Venezuela through partnerships with two oil companies that maintain connections to the Trump administration. The London-listed energy firm will collaborate with a Qatari company owned by the Al-Khayyat brothers, who are working with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner on a resort development in Albania, as well as with the overseas investment arm of the United Arab Emirates’ national oil company, headed by industry minister Sultan Al Jaber.
The development represents one of the initial large-scale international energy investments in Venezuela since recent political developments in January. BP’s move follows Shell’s earlier licensing of the first phase of the Loran field during the summer, and comes as other international firms including Italy’s Eni explore potential projects in the country. American oil companies ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have also begun evaluating opportunities, though they have proceeded more cautiously given Venezuela’s 2007 nationalization of its oil industry. Chevron has maintained a minority stake with the country’s state oil company and continued production operations.
BP Chief Executive Meg O’Neill, a US-born former ExxonMobil executive, characterized the license as a significant development in the company’s relationship with the Venezuelan government. The license was awarded approximately four months after BP agreed to explore gas development possibilities with Venezuela’s authorities, representing one of O’Neill’s initial major agreements since assuming leadership. Venezuela possesses the world’s largest proven oil reserves but has experienced decades of declining output and underinvestment, with production falling from over 3.5 million barrels daily in the late 1990s to approximately 1 million barrels daily. Recent developments have lifted output to 1.2 million barrels daily, with exports to US refineries reaching their highest levels since 2019.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI