Shell CEO: We want to export Venezuelan Gas through Trinidad

Wael Sawan, the CEO of Shell, told Bloomberg TV that he hopes to have the?gas produced from Venezuela's Dragon Field in three years and then processed in Trinidad and Tobago before export.

Shell and Trinidad are trying to increase natural gas supplies to Trinidad's Atlantic LNG Export Facility and the broader petrochemical industry amid shortages caused by dwindling Caribbean island supplies.

Shell and Trinidad National Gas Company received a joint 30-year license from Venezuela's government in 2024 to operate the 4.5 trillion cubic feet Dragon gasfield, located in Venezuelan waters only a few miles away from Trinidad's existing energy infrastructure.

Shell would need a license to operate in Venezuela from the U.S. office of foreign assets control because of U.S. sanction.

In January 2023 Trinidad and Tobago received its first?OFAC licence for the Dragon?field. Shell and state-owned gas company NGC were listed as licensees. This license was revoked in May 2025. A new one was then issued in October to allow for negotiations regarding the Dragon field.

Sawan stated that they were waiting for the OFAC licenses to be issued by the U.S. Government. "Within a short period of time, we think we can potentially make a final decision on investment and start production within two years," he said.

In a separate CNBC interview, he said that the Dragon Gas opportunity could be "activated" within months.

Shell believes that the U.S.'s strategy of investing in Venezuela's energy sector and the removal of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro is aligned with its development of the Dragon Gas Field.

"It'll be good for Venezuelans." It would be great for Trinidadians and I think it is in line with what the U.S. wants to do. We think that we can have a significant role to play in this area, Sawan told Bloomberg. (Reporting and editing by Nathan Crooks, Nia Williams, and Curtis Williams).

(source: Reuters)