BP to develop offshore gasfield in Venezuela with firms linked to Trump administration

British Petroleum (BP) is set to develop a significant offshore gasfield in Venezuela in collaboration with firms connected to the Trump administration. This move marks one of the first major foreign investments in the country since the US ousted President Nicolás Maduro in January. The London-listed oil company will partner with a Qatari company owned by the Al-Khayyat brothers, who are working with Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner on a high-profile resort in Albania.

Additionally, BP will work with the UAE's national oil company, run by industry minister Sultan Al Jaber, who previously pledged to increase the Gulf state's investments in the US energy sector by over sixfold in a decade.

The deal positions BP as one of the first international oil firms to return to Venezuela after rival Shell secured a license to develop the first phase of the Loran gasfield earlier this summer. Caracas is also engaged in talks regarding potential oil projects with the Italian oil company Eni. BP's chief executive, Meg O’Neill, described the license as an "important step forward" in the company's partnership with Caracas, reflecting the progress made together.

BP's involvement in Venezuela's oil industry follows the Trump administration's call for foreign oil companies to invest at least $100bn to help rebuild and tap the country's oil resources after capturing the former president. Other European oil firms, such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, have also begun exploring opportunities in Venezuela, but have been slower to play a role in the country's fossil fuel revival.

Chevron, however, continues to operate as a minority partner to Venezuela's state oil company and remains a significant producer of crude.

BP's license was awarded nearly four months after the company agreed to collaborate with the Venezuelan government to explore potential gas development, making it one of the earliest major agreements struck by Meg O’Neill, a US-born former ExxonMobil executive, in her first month at the helm. O’Neill emphasized that BP's extensive presence in the region and deep experience in developing major gas resources provide a strong foundation for advancing Venezuela's offshore gas potential and unlocking the next phase of development.

Venezuela is believed to possess the world's largest oil reserves and, in the late 1990s, produced more than 3.5m barrels of oil daily. However, a quarter-century of neglect, underinvestment, and corruption have severely damaged the oil industry, causing output to decline to around 1m barrels per day. Since the Trump administration took control of Venezuela's oil industry, output has increased to 1.2m barrels per day, allowing exports to US refineries to reach their highest level since 2019.