Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on January 26, 2026
2 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
BP remains interested in cross-border gas projects with Venezuela, focusing on the Cocuina-Manakin project despite halted agreements.
By Curtis Williams
PORT OF SPAIN, Jan 26 (Reuters) - BP's head of Trinidad and Tobago said on Monday the oil and gas major is still interested in cross-border opportunities with Venezuela, despite the government in Caracas suspending all bilateral energy agreements with its neighbor last year.
BP and Shell had been granted licenses by the U.S. and Venezuela to develop offshore natural gas projects at the maritime border, where vast reserves have been found.
"There is an industrial logic that says there are resources across the border where people are perhaps more cautious to invest, right next to our underutilized assets like Atlantic LNG and Point Lisas," BP's David Campbell said.
"It is an obvious project to have," Campbell added in reference to Cocuina-Manakin, the gas project BP and Venezuela's state-run PDVSA had been planning.
Cocuina-Manakin has gas deposits that extend into the waters of both countries, so a joint development is needed to begin output, after the exploration phase was completed years ago.
BP expects continued decline of its aging fields in Trinidad's shallow waters, but the company sees major opportunities in deepwater, Campbell said.
BP's 3.5-trillion-cubic-foot Calypso discovery, which is operated by Woodside, is seen as an important opportunity for Trinidad to get more gas for the twin-island country as are the deepwater blocks the firm is jointly exploring with Shell, the executive said at an energy conference in the country's capital Port of Spain.
About 10% of all of BP's upstream capital spending worldwide this year will go to energy projects in Trinidad, Campbell said.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams, Editing by Alexander Smith and Andrea Ricci )
BP, or British Petroleum, is a multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, known for its exploration, production, and distribution of energy resources.
Natural gas is a fossil fuel composed primarily of methane, used as an energy source for heating, electricity generation, and as a fuel for vehicles.
Cross-border opportunities refer to business ventures or investments that involve multiple countries, allowing companies to tap into new markets and resources.
The Cocuina-Manakin Project is a planned gas development project involving BP and Venezuela's state-run PDVSA, aimed at utilizing gas deposits across the maritime border.
Capital spending, or capital expenditure (CapEx), refers to funds used by a company to acquire, upgrade, and maintain physical assets such as property, buildings, or equipment.
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