The acting Rodríguez administration has reformed the energy sector to the benefit of foreign corporations. (BP)
Caracas, August 14, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan government has granted an offshore natural gas concession to a consortium of British multinational BP, the United Arab Emirates’ XRG, and Qatar’s UCC.
Acting President Delcy Rodríguez held an agreement-signing ceremony and press conference on Thursday alongside executives of the three corporations on Wednesday.
“I salute this historical moment and thank you for setting up this consortium to achieve such an important agreement for Venezuela and the global energy community,” she said.
Rodríguez emphasized Caracas’ decision to prioritize natural gas ventures to supply the domestic market and boost exports. However, state energy company PDVSA is not a stakeholder in the project.
The multinational consortium was granted rights to drill in the so-called second phase of the Loran field, in the Deltana Platform off Venezuela’s Atlantic coast, with reserves estimated at 4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf). Loran shares its deposits with the Manatee field in the territorial waters of Trinidad and Tobago. They hold 7.3 and 2.7 Tcf of natural gas, respectively.
The first phase of Loran’s exploration was granted to Shell, which is also operating on the Manatee side and expects to produce 4.4 Tcf from the two fields. Both phases are to be developed concurrently. Shell has additionally secured a concession to run the 4 Tcf Dragon field.
“The award of the Loran Phase 2 license […] builds on the strong collaboration we have established with the government of Venezuela and our partners and reflects the progress we have made together,” BP CEO Meg O’Neill stated during the televised event.
The London-headquartered multinational has aggressively pursued Venezuela natural gas opportunities. BP is also set to operate the 1 Tcf Cocuina-Manakin field alongside Trinidad and Tobago’s National Gas Company (NGC). BP recently sold 20 percent of its stake in the Cocuina-Manakin project to the NGC.
BP, Shell, and NGC hold respective 45, 45, and 10 percent shares in Atlantic LNG, a major liquefied natural gas project in Trinidad that is expected to process most of the output from the ventures in Venezuelan waters.
On Thursday, BP also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Venezuelan authorities to explore opportunities in the Carúpano East block, which belongs to the Mariscal Sucre offshore natural gas project.
XRG, the international arm of the UAE’s state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), has been expanding overseas investments and recently secured a stake in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta development.
For its part, the UCC is a privately owned Qatari conglomerate with close ties to the royal family. Originally focused on construction and infrastructure, it has gradually expanded its portfolio to energy and mining ventures. The arrival of Qatari and Emirati firms in the South American country reflects Venezuela’s geopolitical realignment since the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of President Maduro. During the previous two decades, the Chávez and Maduro governments pursued an eastward-looking policy, deepening ties with Iran, Russia, and China in energy and other strategic sectors while maintaining a predominant state role.
In recent months, energy majors have flocked to Venezuela to strike new deals or renew existing ones following a pro-business overhaul to hydrocarbons legislation. A reformed Hydrocarbon Law slashed royalties and taxes, granted foreign partners control over operations and sales, and subordinated contracts to international arbitration bodies.
Despite the opening to transnational corporations, Venezuela’s oil output has stagnated since May. The latest OPEC monthly report placed the Caribbean nation’s July production at 1.117 million bpd, roughly one percent above the June figure, according to secondary sources.
PDVSA reported an output of 1.200 million bpd, up from 1.187 million bpd the prior month. Direct and secondary measurements have historically differed over disagreements on the inclusion of condensates and natural gas liquids.
Edited by Lucas Koerner in Philadelphia, USA.
Published on
BP is going back into Venezuela.
The agreement signed in Caracas on Thursday gives the company operatorship of Loran phase two, an offshore gas project holding more than four trillion cubic feet of proven gas resources, with Abu Dhabi’s XRG, Qatar’s UCC Oil and Gas Holding taking equal stakes beside it.
It is the clearest signal yet that the opening of Venezuela’s energy industry to foreign capital, underway since Maduro’s removal, is gathering pace.
All three companies will hold equal working interests, with BP as operator, and the licence remains subject to regulatory approvals.
PDVSA Gas, the state producer’s gas arm, transferred part of its interest to XRG, the international investment vehicle of Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC. For both XRG and UCC, a unit of the Qatari conglomerate of the same name, this marks a first entry into Venezuela.
The field itself is shared as Loran forms the Venezuelan portion of the Loran-Manatee accumulation, which straddles the maritime boundary with Trinidad and Tobago and holds roughly 10 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in total.
Shell won the licence for the first phase in June and is separately developing Manatee on the Trinidadian side, where first gas is expected next year.
BP says both Venezuelan phases will now be developed in parallel and signed a further memorandum of understanding covering exploration at the Carúpano East Block.
The agreements were concluded during a visit to Caracas by CEO Meg O’Neill and David Campbell, BP’s senior vice president for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The licences are the product of a bargain struck with Washington.
After Maduro was seized by US forces in January, interim president Delcy Rodríguez rewrote the country’s energy law at the Trump administration’s urging, opening the world’s largest proven oil reserves to foreign firms.
In return, the US relaxed sanctions that had frozen most Western investment, including the licences it revoked from BP, Shell and Chevron in 2025.
Eni, Repsol and Shell have all signed since.
The awards process stalled after the earthquakes of 24 June, which killed more than 6,300 people, and resumed only on Thursday, when the three Loran permits were issued and the agreements signed.
“I have a special interest in gas to promote national development,” Rodríguez said at the ceremony, which was broadcast on state television.
BP is not a newcomer as it held a licence for the Cocuina field from 2024, before Washington withdrew its permission to use it.
The states claim the new levies are a pretext to re-impose tariffs that were ruled illegal by the US Supreme Court.
Published On 4 Aug 20264 Aug 2026
A group of 25 Democratic-led states has sued Donald Trump’s administration over its latest tariffs, claiming that the US president has exceeded his legal authority to implement the levies.
The lawsuit, filed in the US Court of International Trade on Monday, targets new double-digit tariffs imposed on 60 trading partners last month over allegations they were not doing enough to stop the importation of goods produced with forced labour.
list of 3 itemsend of list
These latest tariffs took effect just as the clock ran out on temporary tariffs that Trump had turned to after the Supreme Court struck down his flagship “liberation day” levies in a February ruling.
“After losing at the Supreme Court, the administration is once again trying to illegally raise taxes on families and businesses with a new round of tariffs,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.
The states that sued over the new tariffs, including Oregon and New York, all have Democratic attorneys general or governors.
In response, White House spokesman Kush Desai said the levies were an appropriate and legal response to unfair trade practices in other nations.
“A foreign country’s failure to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is unreasonable and burdens US commerce, including American workers, and must be addressed,” Desai said.
Trump, who argues that high tariffs will revive US manufacturing, last year overturned decades of Washington policy that favoured lower tariffs and ever-freer trade.
Invoking the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), he imposed double-digit tariffs on imports from almost every country, saying the US’s longstanding trade deficit amounted to a national emergency.
But the Supreme Court ruled that IEEPA did not authorise tariffs. The decision forced the administration to establish a refund process for importers who had paid the tariffs.
Eager to make up the lost revenue, Trump turned to temporary 10 percent worldwide tariffs, but they expired at midnight on July 24.
The latest round of global tariffs was imposed under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, meant to combat unfair or discriminatory economic practices by other nations. The tariffs imposed in July affect more than 99 percent of US imports.
The states’ complaint, like two previous lawsuits filed by small businesses over the tariffs, argued that the new tariffs used “forced labor” as a pretext to re-impose the tariffs that had already been ruled illegal in court. They said that a sweeping tax on imports would do nothing to address the real problems of forced labour around the world.
Rigetti partners with HPE to build hybrid quantum-classical supercomputer
Source link
Roman Arbuzov/iStock Editorial via Getty Images
Qualcomm (QCOM) said on Wednesday that it has expanded its collaboration with Samsung (SSNLF), bringing Snapdragon chips across the new Galaxy lineup, including smartphones, watches and intelligent eyewear.
The San Diego, California-based firm said that Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile
Union members of Korea Zinc and Home Plus hold a joint press conference in Seoul on Tuesday to criticize MBK Partners’ management of Home Plus and its takeover bid for Korea Zinc. Photo by Tae-gyu Kim/UPI
SEOUL, June 30 (UPI) — The labor unions of Home Plus and Korea Zinc on Tuesday blasted MBK Partners, one of Asia’s leading private equity funds, over its troubled ownership of the former and the attempt to take over the latter.
“Although we are workers from different workplaces, we are all suffering in the face of the same capital greed. Korea Zinc and Home Plus are no different,” Home Plus union leader Ahn Soo-yong told a joint press conference in Seoul.
“Home Plus has now entered rehabilitation proceedings and stands on the brink of liquidation. But throughout this entire process, MBK, which should be held accountable, is evading responsibility,” she added.
MBK Partners acquired Home Plus from Tesco in a $5 billion deal in 2015. However, the discount chain entered a court-led rehabilitation program in early 2025 after years of mounting losses. MBK tried to sell Home Plus for more than a year with little success.
Against this backdrop, Home Plus has steadily reduced its store network in recent years. The retailer operated more than 140 hypermarkets across the country at its peak in the mid-2010s, but now has just 67 remaining.
“The hardship facing Home Plus is by no means a problem unique to Home Plus,” Korea Zinc union head Lee Eun-seon said.
“If MBK succeeds in taking control of Korea Zinc, the job insecurity and workplace destruction now being experienced by Home Plus workers will inevitably become the grim reality for Korea Zinc employees as well,” he said.
Korea Zinc has been locked in a prolonged control battle with MBK, which teamed up with zinc manufacturer Young Poong early last year to pursue a takeover bid. The two sides clashed at shareholders’ meetings in 2025 and 2026 in a series of heated proxy battles.
The share price of Korea Zinc fell 4% on the Seoul bourse on Tuesday, while the broad KOSPI rose 0.97%. Neither MBK nor Home Plus is publicly listed.
Published on
The EU has allocated import quotas for steel to its trading partners on Tuesday in an attempt to fight growing overcapacity from foreign producers.
The measure comes amid rising tensions between the EU and china China, where most of the global steel surplus originates.
Seeking to shield its market from global overcapacity, EU legislators agreed last April to increase existing tariff-free steel quotas to 18.3 million tonnes per year while doubling tariffs beyond those quotas to 50 percent
The EU’s closest allies, such as the UK, Switzerland and Ukraine, are concerned that their own exports to the EU could be drastically affected by the new measures, and have heavily lobbied the European Commission in recent weeks for preferential access to the EU market.
“We are providing market participants with predictability through clear and transparent quota distribution rules, while applying a fair and objective methodology,” EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said in a statement.
The protectionist move comes as global steel overcapacity is expected to grow to 721 million tonnes by 2027, according to the OECD, a volume that could threaten jobs across the entire EU steel sector.
The EU came under even greater pressure last year when the US imposed 50 percent tariffs on steel imports, rerouting the global surplus to the European market.
“They built a wall around their market, steel was hitting that wall and was coming back to our market in greater numbers,” a senior EU official said. “That is why we introduced a safeguard measure which followed an investigation.”
The EU is also fighting unfair trade practices across the board with 80 other measures already in place, among them anti-dumping duties, most of which target cheap steel imports from China.
Pressed by its closest allies to ease the measures to their benefit, the Commission announced on Tuesday that half of the 18.3 million tonnes allowed to enter its market each year will be allocated to partners bound by free trade agreements with the bloc, including India, Switzerland and the UK.
Many of the countries that have clinched a trade deal with the EU will be allocated country-specific quotas proportionate to the volumes traded with the EU between 2022 and 2024.
A special status has also been granted to Ukraine to support the country while it remains at war and ensure a certain level of exports to the EU.
Anthropic teamed up with California to get more state workers to use its artificial intelligence assistant Claude as part of an effort to leverage technology to make the government more efficient.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who announced the partnership on Monday, said state agencies will be able to access Claude at a 50% discount. Free training and other assistance will also be available to the workers. California’s local governments will also get the same discount under the agreement.
Government workers can use Claude to draft and summarize documents, analyze information and do other tasks.
Anthropic, an AI company based in San Francisco, has a version of its AI assistant for government clients that provides more security than what it provides other consumers.
The new partnership shows how AI is playing a bigger role at work as tech companies market their tools as ways to complete tasks more quickly. Last year, San Francisco made Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, which is powered by OpenAI’s model, available to nearly 30,000 city employees.
Still, the rise of automation at work has heightened concerns that people will lose their jobs. There are also worries that there are not yet adequate guardrails in place to mitigate data privacy and security risks.
Anthropic and the governor said that they’re focused on the responsible use of AI.
“AI should not replace the human work of government; it should help our workers move faster, solve problems more effectively, and deliver better results for Californians,” Newsom said in a statement.
The remarks didn’t appear to comfort union leaders.
“Wow. Look local government, the Gov is giving you a 50% off coupon to give up your residents’ private data, outsource your jobs to big tech. Isn’t that cool? Because California basically invented AI slop!” said Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, in a post on X.
Anthropic has faced political hurdles as it pushes to get more companies and government agencies to use its products.
Most notable, it’s sparred publicly with the Trump administration, which ordered the company to cut off foreign access to its most powerful AI systems this month.
The Trump administration cited potential national security risks, but Anthropic disagreed with the findings. Last week, tensions decreased after the U.S. government gave Anthropic permission to restore access to its AI model Mythos to certain clients.
Valued at nearly $1 trillion, Anthropic has also signaled it plans to become a publicly traded company.
California has already started using Claude more in state government to develop tools to get the public to engage more in AI policy discussions and assist state workers, the governor’s office said in its news release.
State agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles, are also using AI to reduce wait times and improve customer service.
“As state employees, our goal is to provide our fellow Californians with the best possible service,” Government Operations Agency Secretary Nick Maduros said in a statement. “To do that, we need to make sure our teams have access to the best modern tools, including Claude and other emerging technologies.”
A HUGE Brit pop star has revealed his partner has suffered a devastating miscarriage.
Chart-topping British dance artist James Hype and his music artist partner Tita Lau shared their devastation after revealing their unborn baby has died just months into the pregnancy.
Taking to Instagram on Wednesday afternoon, Tita shared a black and white snap of them hugging and wrote alongside it: “This week we thought we’d be sharing the happiest news of our lives. Sadly, life had a different plan for us.
“For the last two years, we’ve been trying for a baby. It hasn’t been easy, especially because James and I hardly see each other.
“We’d started planning our IVF journey & had meetings with multiple doctors. But just before we were due to begin, something felt different…
I can’t really explain it, I bought a pregnancy test & called James literally 1000s of miles apart…Positive.”
She then shared how they went through a range of emotions before heading for their first scan and hearing the baby’s heartbeat.
Tita, who also tours the world as a DJ, added: “Keeping it a secret was so hard, especially while touring. The first trimester is literally no joke!”
But a few weeks later, Tita said she felt “something wasn’t right” and went to get checked at another scan and “That’s when our hearts broke.”
She continued: “We were told I’d had what’s called a missed miscarriage, most likely caused by chromosomal abnormalities. My body still believed it was pregnant, but our baby had stopped developing.
“I don’t think a day has gone by that I haven’t cried. I didn’t know what happened next. It’s not something I’d ever thought about, but the next day, I had surgery & just like that, everything we’d been dreaming about was over.”
She then paid tribute to her husband, saying: “I’m still recovering, both physically & emotionally & I know James is too. I honestly don’t know how I would have gone through this week without you. This has been the hardest thing we’ve experienced together.”
James then commented underneath the post: “Proud of you for sharing this. Believe that everything will work out the way it should.”
The couple recently celebrated their sixth anniversary together.
James first hit the UK music scene back in 2017 when his song More Than Friends became a smash hit.
He has since had hit songs with global artists such as Craig David, Kim Petras and Pia Mia.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa and with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung celebrated the signing of new a digital trade agreement at a ceremony in Brussels on Wednesday.
The event marked the EU and South Korea’s 11th summit, with everything from security and defence to trade on the agenda.
“Korea is one of Europe’s closest partners in the Indo-Pacific region and on the global stage,” von der Leyen said. “In today’s uncertain world, stable and trusted partnerships like ours are more precious than ever.”
The trio released a joint statement extolling the value of the talks and committing the two sides to a firm and friendly relationship.
“We reaffirm our shared commitment to effective multilateralism, and to a stable and predictable rules-based free and fair economic order,” the statement reads.
Both sides have an interest in diversifying their trade relationships at a time of growing tensions with both China and the US, and the EU-South Korea digital trade agreement comes more than a decade after a landmark free trade deal.
Since 2015, trade between the EU and South Korea has doubled, with goods trade reaching approximately €124.25 billion in 2025, according to figures from the European Commission.
“The European Union-Korea Free Trade Agreement remains one of the European Union’s most successful trade agreements since its entry into enforcement in 2011,” European Council António Costa said on Wednesday.
South Korea is becoming an increasingly important investor in Europe, particularly in strategic sectors such as batteries, electric vehicles and semiconductors.
For the EU, a key objective is to secure semiconductor supply chains while attracting further investment from Korean companies into Europe.
“Korea has a global leadership position in semiconductors,” an EU official said. “This is clearly an area with significant potential for cooperation that would benefit both sides.”
The digital trade agreement concluded on Wednesday is expected to complement the broader trade partnership by reducing “unnecessary barriers to digital trade” and providing greater “legal certainty” for businesses operating across the two markets, according to another EU official. It will facilitate cross-border data flows while prohibiting the mandatory transfer of source code.
The deal is also designed to establish robust online consumer protection rules, though both partners intend to maintain their respective levels of protection for personal data and privacy.
Economic security was also high on the summit agenda, with the two sides agreeing to establish a high-level dialogue on supply chain resilience.
Supply chains came under pressure last year following China’s restrictions on exports of strategic materials, including rare earths – essential for green technologies and the defence sector – as well as products linked to the chip industry, which are critical to automotive manufacturing.
One thing that did not get over the line was a security of information agreement, which had been touted by EU officials prior to the summit as a means of strengthening the flow of classified information between Brussels and Seoul.
“I hope that the security of information agreement will be adopted soon, so that Korea and the EU can share confidential information safely, which will allow the two sides to engage in industrial and research cooperation actively through information exchange exchange,” President Lee said on Wednesday.
The agreement would build on the Security and Defence Partnership agreement that South Korea and the EU signed in 2024. That deal was designed to facilitate cooperation in areas spanning maritime security, countering hybrid threats, fighting foreign information manipulation and interference, and more besides.
In the run-up to this week’s talks, a senior EU official said a key topic of the discussions will be nuclear non-proliferation, as North Korea continues to hold a small but concerning stockpile of nuclear-armed warheads.
North Korea (the DPRK) and Russia were considered “big questions” at the summit, the source said, with Brussels ready to share information on its support for Ukraine with Seoul.
The joint statement from the summit reiterates this, with words of condemnation directed at North Korea and other nations who enable Russia to sustain its war of aggression against Ukraine.
“We urge Russia and the DPRK to immediately cease all such activities and abide by the UN Charter and all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions,” the statement reads.
Wavebridge CEO Oh Jong-wook (L), KB Securities CEO Kang Jin-doo (C) and Canton Foundation Chairman Viv Diwakar pose after signing a memorandum of understanding at KB Securities headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul, on Thursday. Photo by KB Securities
SEOUL, June 5 (UPI) — South Korea’s KB Securities said Friday it teamed with global blockchain network operator Canton Foundation and domestic digital asset company Wavebridge.
The Seoul-based brokerage said the three firms would explore ways to take advantage of the Canton Network, a blockchain platform built for regulated financial markets, to support distributed ledger-based capital market transactions.
Over the longer term, they also hope to collaborate on adopting distributed ledger-based financial products in South Korea.
KB Securities said that its ultimate goal is to enable the issuance and cross-border distribution of financial products backed by Korean assets.
Enabled by smart contracts, Canton Network allows participants to exchange data and value for the trading of real-world assets.
Several major global financial organizations participate in the Canton ecosystem, including Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, HSBC and Nasdaq, according to KB Securities.
“The transition to a distributed ledger-based capital market is an essential step for future finance. This transformation is already moving from concept to execution globally,” KB Securities CEO Kang Jin-doo said in a statement.
Canton Foundation leader Viv Diwakar welcomed the three-way partnership.
“Korea’s capital markets have the institutional depth and regulatory foundation to move decisively in the shift to distributed ledger infrastructure,” he said.
“This partnership with KB Securities and Wavebridge is an important first step in building that future, and Canton Foundation is committed to supporting Korea’s leadership in this space.”
KB Securities is not publicly listed. The share price of its parent company, KB Financial Group, rose 4.51% on Friday, while the benchmark KOSPI plunged 5.54%.
