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

XRG has bought its way into Venezuela, taking an equal-interest stake in the offshore Loran gas licence 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 tn cubic feet of proven gas.

REMEMBER- We reported in January that Adnoc was evaluating a Venezuela entry through XRG, contingent on clearer legal 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 Nicolas Maduro in January and pushed Rodriguez's interim government toward an investment-friendly posture.

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 tn cubic feet of recoverable gas combined. Loran, together with Shell's Dragon project — another Venezuelan gas field holding 4.2 tn cubic feet — 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, Azerbaijan’s Absheron gas field, Turkmenistan’s Offshore Block 1, and Mozambique’s Area 4 concession. The oil and gas investor is also eyeing potential investments in Canada and Australia, while also doubling down heavily on US gas.

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