BP has announced plans to develop a large offshore gasfield in Venezuela, partnering with two oil companies with close ties to the Trump administration, in one of the first major foreign energy investments in the country since the US removed former leader Nicolas Maduro from power in January.
The London-listed oil company will work alongside a Qatari firm owned by the Al-Khayyat brothers -- Syrian-born billionaires collaborating with Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner on a controversial multibillion-dollar resort development in Albania -- to develop the second phase of the Loran gasfield.
BP will also partner with the overseas investment arm of the UAE's national oil company, led by industry minister Sultan Al Jaber. In 2025, Al Jaber pledged to Donald Trump that the Gulf state would increase its investments in the US energy sector more than sixfold, to $440 billion, within a decade.
The deal positions BP among the first major international oil companies to re-enter Venezuela. Shell secured a licence to develop the first phase of the Loran field earlier this summer, and Italy's Eni is reported to be in talks over separate oil projects in the country.
BP's chief executive Meg O'Neill described the licence as "an important step forward" in the company's collaboration with Caracas, which "reflects the progress we have made together."
O'Neill, a US-born former ExxonMobil executive, took the helm at BP earlier this year. The Loran licence was awarded almost four months after BP agreed with the Venezuelan government to explore potential gas development opportunities, and was among the first major agreements concluded under her leadership.
"BP has a longstanding presence in the region and deep experience developing major gas resources," O'Neill said. "Together, these agreements provide a strong foundation to progress Venezuela's offshore gas potential and unlock the next phase of development."
BP is one of a small number of European oil companies that have returned to Venezuela following Trump's call for foreign firms to invest "at least $100 billion" to help rebuild and develop the country's energy resources after the removal of its former president.
US oil majors ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips have begun assessing opportunities in Venezuela but have moved more cautiously, in part due to the country's nationalisation of its oil industry in 2007. Chevron, which remained in Venezuela as a minority partner to the state oil company throughout that period, has continued to produce crude.
Venezuela is believed to hold the largest oil reserves of any country in the world. In the late 1990s, it produced more than 3.5 million barrels of oil per day, ranking among the top ten crude producers globally. However, decades of neglect, underinvestment, and corruption severely eroded its energy sector, causing output to fall to approximately one million barrels per day.
Since the Trump administration assumed control of Venezuela's oil industry, production has risen to 1.2 million barrels per day, with exports to US refineries reaching their highest level since 2019.
