BP has, in partnership with United Arab Emirates firm XRG, and a unit from Qatar's conglomerate UCC Holding secured a licence to explore and develop Venezuela's offshore Loran field's second phase, according to the British company's and government officials' announcements on Thursday.
The agreement was signed in Caracas, and broadcast by the state?TV. It gives BP's group the right to produce 4 trillion cubic foot of gas in Loran.
British Shell was awarded the license for the first phase in June. BP stated in a press release that both phases will be developed simultaneously.
BP said that it will be operating the second phase project in which it has equal interests with UCC Holdings' oil and gas -unit and XRG owned by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
"We should not just push for the development of the country's petroleum resources, but also for the growth of our gas resources," said oil minister Paula Henao during the signing ceremony.
BP signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Venezuelan government in April. This document established a framework to cooperate in exploration and production in the Plataforma Deltana project offshore, which includes Loran field.
Loran is a continuation of XRG’s strategy to create a platform for gas and liquefied gas in?Latin America. The company stated this in a separate press release.
Loran extends to the Shell-operated Manatee field, in Trinidad and Tobago where Venezuelan gas is planned to be industrialized into LNG. The fields together hold about 10 TCF of'recoverable gas.
Shell has begun the development of Manatee with first gas due?next?year. It will then follow up with Loran’s first phase, resulting in a total 4.4 TCF gas production from both.
BP and Venezuelan 'officials' signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to evaluate the exploration opportunities in the Carupano East Block, which is part of the Mariscal Sucre marine area off Venezuela's northeastern coast. (Reporting and writing by Deisy, Stephanie Kelly, Curtis Williams. Editing by Shri Navaratnam.)
(source: Reuters)