Trinidad's BP head says the company is interested in cross border opportunities with Venezuela

BP's Trinidad and Tobago head said Monday that the oil and?gas?major was still interested in cross border opportunities with Venezuela despite a?government in Caracas that suspended all bilateral energy deals with its neighbor in last year.

BP and Shell were granted licenses to develop offshore natural-gas projects along the maritime?border by the U.S.

David Campbell, BP's spokesman, said: "There is a logic of industrial?reasoning? that says people may be more?cautious about investing in resources located across the border. These are right next to underutilized assets such as Atlantic LNG and Point Lisas."

Campbell said, "It's an obvious project that we should have," referring to Cocuina Manakin, the joint gas project BP had planned with Venezuelan state-run PDVSA.

Gas deposits in Cocuina and Manakin extend into both countries' waters, so it is necessary to develop jointly after the exploration phase has been completed.

Campbell stated that BP sees great opportunities in deepwater for its aging fields, but also expects them to continue declining in Trinidad's shallow water.

BP's 3.5-trillion-cubic-foot Calypso discovery, which ?is operated by Woodside, is seen as an important opportunity for Trinidad to get more gas ?for the twin-island country as are the deepwater ?blocks the firm is jointly exploring with Shell, the executive said at an energy ?conference in the country's capital Port of Spain.

Campbell stated that about 10% of BP's global upstream capital expenditures will be spent on energy projects in Trinidad this year. Curtis Williams reported, Alexander Smith edited and Andrea Ricci wrote the article.

(source: Reuters)