UK oil giant BP has answered President Donald Trump's call for oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela's fossil fuel industry with new plans to develop a major offshore gas field.
BP will partner with two oil companies closely linked to the Trump administration to develop the second phase of the Loran gas field, marking one of the first large-scale foreign investments in Venezuela since the US toppled leader Nicolás Maduro in January this year.
The London-listed oil company currently holds the license to develop the field alongside a Qatari company owned by the Al-Khayyat brothers – Syrian-born billionaires who are working with Ivanka Trump, the President's daughter, and her husband Jared Kushner on a controversial multi-billion-dollar resort in Albania.
BP will also work with the foreign investment arm of the UAE's national oil company, run by Energy Minister Sultan Al Jaber, who pledged to Trump in 2025 that the Gulf nation would more than sextuple its investment in US energy to $440 billion over a decade.
The deal makes BP one of the first major international oil companies to return to Venezuela, after rival Shell secured the license to develop phase one of the Loran field earlier this summer. Caracas is also in talks with Italy's Eni on oil projects.
BP Chief Executive Meg O'Neill described the license as “a significant step forward” in the company's cooperation with Caracas, reflecting “the progress we have made together”.
BP is one of the few European oil companies to return to the basin since Trump urged foreign oil companies to invest “at least $100 billion” to help rebuild and exploit Venezuela's oil wealth after the US detained the country's former leader.
US companies such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have begun exploring opportunities in Venezuela but have been slower to play a role in reviving fossil fuels after the Latin American nation nationalized the industry in 2007. Chevron maintains a presence as a minority partner of Venezuela's state oil company and continues to extract crude.
BP's license was granted nearly four months after the company agreed to work with the Venezuelan government to assess gas development potential. It is also one of the first major deals by O'Neill – a US-born former ExxonMobil executive – in her first month on the job.
O'Neill said: “BP has a long-standing presence in the region and extensive expertise in developing major gas resources. Together, these agreements provide a strong foundation to advance Venezuela's offshore gas potential and unlock the next phase of development.”
Venezuela is believed to hold the world's largest oil reserves, producing over 3.5 million barrels per day in the late 1990s and ranking among the top 10 global crude producers. However, a quarter-century of neglect, underinvestment, and corruption has eroded the country's oil industry, cutting output to about 1 million barrels per day.
In the months since the Trump administration took control of Venezuela's oil industry, production has risen to 1.2 million barrels per day, pushing exports to US refineries to their highest level since 2019.
