BP Suspends Negotiations with Venezuela to Develop Manakin-Cocuina Gas Field
BP has suspended negotiations with Venezuela on the development of a gas project on the maritime border with Trinidad and Tobago. This was reported by Reuters with reference to a company representative.
BP’s negotiations with Venezuela and Trinidad to develop the Manakin-Cocuina field in the Caribbean, which is common to both countries, are suspended due to the expiration of OFAC General License No. 44. BP plans to resume negotiations with Venezuela as soon as it can legally do so, a company spokesman said.
The Manakin-Cocuina cross-border fields, estimated to have 1 tcf of recoverable reserves, were consolidated in 2015, but development talks stalled following the imposition of US sanctions on Venezuela in 2019.
In October 2023, the United States eased sanctions against the Venezuelan oil and gas sector, and in March 2024, the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA announced that it was considering issuing a license for the exploration and development of natural gas in its part of the Manakin-Cocuina fields.
However, in April 2024, sanctions were reinstated:
- the administration of US President D. Biden re-imposed sanctions on the oil sector of Venezuela in response to President N. Maduro’s failure to fulfill his election obligations on April 17, 2024;
- importing companies were given a 45-day period to wind down operations related to the oil and gas sector in Venezuela;
- after the end of this period, if the 44A general license is not renewed, the sanctions will come into full force;
- at the same time, Washington said it could give permission to some foreign companies for oil transactions with Caracas.
Over the past 5 years, natural gas production in Trinidad has decreased by 45%, from 2.2 Bcf/d to 1.2 Bcf/d.
BP aims to increase natural gas production in Trinidad. The company owns a 45% stake in the Atlantic LNG liquefaction plant, which is capable of producing 15 million tons/year of LNG. However, due to a decrease in production, the LNG plant was forced to mothball one of its technological lines and reduce production.
Atlantic LNG:
- a liquefied natural gas plant located in Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago;
- officially put into operation in 1999;
- includes 4 liquefaction lines with a total capacity of 15 million tons/year of LNG: Train 1 – 3 million tons/year of LNG, Train 2-3 – 3.3 million tons/year of LNG each line, Train 4 – 5.2 million tons/year of LNG;
- liquefaction technologies – Phillips Optimized Cascade Process;
- the plant has 28 GE Frame 5 gas turbines.
In January 2024, BP announced that it would make a final investment decision (FID) to develop the Calypso deepwater gas field offshore Trinidad and Tobago by the end of 2025.
Let us recall that back in 2018, BP approached the Venezuelan Ministry of Oil with a proposal to buy out a stake in its part of the field (Cocuina). However, then the department rejected the proposal, citing the need to re-evaluate reserves.
