BP and the United Arab Emirates' XRG have secured an exploration and production license for Venezuela's offshore Loran gas field, which the companies said contains an estimated 4 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in the Plataforma Deltana area and forms part of the cross-border Loran-Manatee accumulation shared with Trinidad and Tobago. BP is now preparing the second phase of the project as one of the first large-scale international oil companies to expand in Venezuela since Nicolás Maduro was ousted in January, after Shell won a license for Loran's first phase earlier this summer and as Caracas also discusses oil projects with Eni. A later account of the development said BP holds the license alongside a Qatari company owned by the Al-Khayyat brothers and will also work with the overseas investment arm of the UAE's national oil company, pointing to a wider foreign consortium around the field. The move comes as the Trump administration presses foreign companies to help rebuild Venezuela's energy industry and as the country's oil production has reportedly risen to 1.2 million barrels a day from roughly 1 million barrels a day.