Venezuela has officially given the British energy company, Shell, a licence to explore and export natural gas. This marks a major moment as global companies rush to invest in the South American country’s vast energy resources.
The agreement comes after Interim President Delcy Rodriguez changed the law in January to allow foreign investment in Venezuela’s energy sector. These reforms followed the capture of former president Nicolas Maduro in a United States military operation, which Washington pressured the government to accept.
Under this new deal, Shell will develop the Loran gas field. This area has been abandoned for 23 years and contains seven large natural gas deposits, six of which sit directly on the sea border with Trinidad and Tobago.
President Rodriguez stated that this project is a significant advance for the country. It will not only improve Venezuela’s own gas supplies but also help it become a major seller of natural gas to the rest of the world.
While Venezuela is well known for having the world’s largest oil reserves, it also holds huge amounts of natural gas. To get the project moving, Shell representatives visited the Muscar Operational Complex on Thursday. This site is a major gas processing centre operated by the state-owned oil company PDVSA.
This is not the first time the company has operated in the region. In 2023, Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago partnered with Shell to produce gas from another area called the Dragon field. That site holds massive amounts of gas but was forced to stop and start its operations due to a US oil ban in 2019.
The current Venezuelan government is working hard to bring in more international business and has already signed similar agreements with other major energy companies, including Britain’s BP and Spain’s Repsol.
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