British oil and gas producer BP, Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company are speeding negotiations for a Venezuelan license to develop natural gas deposits in the Caribbean Sea, four people familiar with the matter said.
The companies last year resumed negotiations for developing the Cocuina-Manakin gas field on the maritime border between Trinidad and Venezuela, which contains about 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The talks have progressed since the U.S. in May granted an authorization for the project, providing an exemption to energy sanctions on Venezuela. The parties now aim to sign the Venezuelan license needed to develop that side of the field before a presidential election in the South American country on July 28, the sources said.
A license signing ceremony Venezuelan authorities had planned for last week was postponed as there were outstanding agreements to reach. Trinidad’s energy minister Stuart Young recently traveled to Caracas to take part in some meetings, the people added.
BP, which declined to comment on the issue, had previously said it was actively pursuing development of the field. PDVSA, NGC and Trinidad’s energy minister did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
BP wants the gas primarily to supply Trinidad’s flagship Atlantic LNG project. A smaller portion of the output would go to NGC for use in Trinidad’s petrochemical sector, two of the people said.
Trinidad is Latin America’s largest LNG producer and the world’s second largest exporter of methanol and ammonia, but its industries have suffered in the last five years from a shortage of natural gas. Atlantic LNG has capacity to produce some 15 million metric tons per annum of the superchilled gas.
The U.S. authorization to Cocuina-Manakin is the second by Washington for energy projects between Trinidad and Venezuela that it sees as key to securing gas for international markets.
A previous license was granted early last year by the U.S. Treasury Department to Shell for developing the Dragon gas field in Venezuela. The project, whose infrastructure was partially built by Venezuela but remains idled, could begin gas output late next year.
Gas from both projects is expected to be converted into LNG in Trinidad for export to neighboring Caribbean nations, Venezuelan and Trinidadian officials have said.
(Reporting by Curtis Williams in Houston, and Mayela Armas and Deisy Buitrago in Caracas; Additional reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Bill Berkrot)