XRG takes a stake in Venezuela’s offshore Loran gas field in BP-led agreement

XRG has bought its way into Venezuela, taking an equal-interest stake in the offshore Loran gas license alongside BP and Qatar’s UCC Oil and Gas, Adnoc’s international investment arm said in a statement (pdf). The field holds more than 4 tcf of proven gas.

REMEMBER- We reported in January that Adnoc was evaluating a Venezuela entry through XRG, contingent on clearer legislative and financial structures and coordination with Washington. Interim Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodriguez has been rewriting the country’s hydrocarbon law to open the door to foreign capital since the US captured former president Nicolás Maduro in January and pushed Rodriguez’s interim government toward an investment-friendly posture.

Why this matters: It marks a broader shift in how Gulf energy groups invest internationally. “Gulf companies are increasingly building portfolios that include upstream assets, LNG capacity and trading positions in several regions at once. The logic is straightforward: diversify the sources of molecules, diversify the buyers they can reach, and reduce reliance on any single geography or export route,” UAE-based commodity analyst Natalia Katona tells EnterpriseAM.

Why Venezuela now? “Loran offers the chance to connect Venezuelan offshore gas to nearby Trinidadian infrastructure and global LNG markets. But this is an emerging option, not an established supply route. Its viability will depend on development terms, cross-border arrangements, access to capacity, sanctions compliance, and competitive economics. Not on resource size alone,” former head of supply chain and transport industries at the World Economic Forum Wolfgang Lehmacher tells EnterpriseAM.

IN CONTEXT- US President Donald Trump has been lobbying American oil companies directly to invest in Venezuela’s energy sector — but several have stayed on the sidelines, wary of the cost of rebuilding a gas industry that's gone through years of underinvestment and sanctions. That's the gap XRG, BP, and UCC are stepping into.

Venezuela’s gas sector has moved fast since January. Shell was awarded Loran’s first phase in June, tied to its existing Manatee development across the maritime boundary in Trinidad and Tobago, with first gas from Manatee expected next year. This latest award to BP, XRG, and UCC covers phase two of the same Loran-Manatee accumulation, which holds roughly 10 tcf of recoverable gas combined. Loran, together with Shell’s Dragon project — another Venezuelan gas field holding 4.2 tcf — are expected to give Venezuela its first offshore gas exports, with the initial supply routed to Trinidad for LNG processing.

BACKGROUND- This is XRG’s second Latin American gas position in under a year. XRG and Eni each took 32% stakes in three YPF-operated upstream blocks in Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale basin in June, with YPF retaining 36% — the upstream backbone for an integrated LNG project targeting 12 mtpa across two floating units. That sits alongside XRG's stake in NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG in the US as well as a stake in Azerbaijan's Southern Gas Corridor. The oil and gas investor is also eyeing potential investments in Canada and Australia, while also doubling down heavily on US gas.

What is Latin America offering? “Offshore Latin America can offer a somewhat cleaner proposition: large resources, access to Atlantic markets and, in many cases, national companies that need outside capital, technical expertise and project-management experience to move very large developments forward,” Katona tells us.

What’s next: XRG’s stake is still subject to definitive license terms, regulatory sign-off, and “applicable international sanctions [and] compliance requirements.”