BP has agreed to sell a 20 per cent interest in the Trinidad and Tobago portion of the Cocuina-Manakin natural-gas field to the country’s National Gas Company.
The field contains an estimated one trillion cubic feet of natural gas and crosses the maritime boundary between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela. Approximately 66 per cent of the resource lies on the Trinidadian side.
NGC already owns a 20 per cent interest in the Cocuina portion on Venezuela’s side of the border. Acquiring equity in Manakin will therefore give the company an upstream interest on both sides of the development.
The agreement comes less than four months after Venezuela granted BP a licence to develop the field. A final investment decision could be taken before the end of 2026, although that timetable has not been formally guaranteed.
BP and NGC plan to market approximately 70 per cent of the project’s gas to Atlantic LNG. The remaining 30 per cent is expected to supply Trinidad’s petrochemical industry.
The deal is commercially significant because declining domestic gas production has limited operations at Atlantic LNG and several petrochemical facilities. One of the LNG complex’s four processing trains has been closed because of insufficient feedstock.
A successful Cocuina-Manakin development could help increase plant utilisation, protect industrial employment and strengthen Trinidad’s position as a regional gas-processing and LNG-export centre.
The transaction follows BP’s agreement to acquire complete control of the separate Calypso deepwater gas project, reinforcing the company’s interest in Trinidad despite the country’s recent supply challenges.
