BP Explores Cross-Border Gas Development Opportunities with Venezuela

BP's Strategic Focus on Venezuela's Gas Resources

By Curtis Williams

Cocuina-Manakin Gas Project

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.

Opportunities in Deepwater Exploration

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.

Investment Plans in Trinidad

"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 )