BP and Trinidad and Tobago’s State Energy Company NGC Have Won a US License to Develop Gas in Venezuela
BP and Trinidad and Tobago’s state energy company NGC have been granted a two-year license by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to develop the Cocuina and Manakin gas fields, which cross the border with Venezuela, according to the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Chamber’s website.
Washington did not renew a broad license last month that allowed Venezuela to freely export oil and receive investment, but issues individual permits to companies.
The Cocuina and Manakin fields offshore have about 1 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves and are part of the Cocuina-Manakin gas complex, which stretches from Venezuela to Trinidad and Tobago.
There are huge gas reserves in the Deltana region of Venezuela and in fields located on the maritime border with Trinidad and Tobago. Pipelining natural gas from these fields to Trinidad for processing through LNG and petrochemicals offers significant opportunities for Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and countries around the world that rely on imported gas and petrochemicals to support their economies, according to a statement on the chamber’s website.
The permit is the second issued by the United States for energy projects between the two countries, following the 2023 license granted to Shell and NGC for the Dragon gas field in Venezuela. That project will export gas to Trinidad and Tobago under a license recently extended to October 2025.
