Trinidad and Tobago expects gas production at Venezuela's offshore Dragon field to start in the final quarter of 2027, energy minister Roodal Moonilal said today, adding that there is no indication that recent developments in Venezuela have impacted the project's prospects.
"We have received no signal from the Venezuelan government that any of the agreements have been cancelled or are to be cancelled," Moonilal told reporters on the sidelines of India Energy week in Goa, adding that talks with partners including Shell and BP on project planning and execution were continuing. Delays affecting some ongoing projects were linked to licensing processes in Washington rather than agreements with Caracas, he said.
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a license in October 2025 allowing Shell and Trinidad's state-owned natural gas company NGC to resume developing the field after earlier authorisations were revoked because of Washington's Venezuela policy aimed at increasing pressure on President Nicolás Maduro's government
Moonilal said Shell currently holds the license allowing it to conduct transactions and negotiations related to the project, but an additional authorisation would be required to proceed with full-scale development and production. "The initial licence is for transactions and negotiations, not production and development," he said, adding that a second application would be needed and that progress continues to be monitored following discussions late last year.
Dragon, which is in Venezuelan waters close to the maritime border with Trinidad, is expected to produce around 350mn ft³/d, and holds an estimated 3.5 trillion ft³ of reserves, Moonilal said.
Trinidad is also seeking OFAC licences to advance the development of smaller Venezuelan offshore gas fields, including the Loran and Manakin-Cocuina fields, which could supply additional gas volumes to Trinidad for LNG exports and domestic use. Once developed, gas from Venezuelan fields would be piped to Trinidad, liquefied for export and used to support petrochemical production, with some volumes potentially supplying global LNG markets, including Europe, Moonilal said.
