February 20, 2026 [Oil Price]- Shell plans to proceed with a natural gas project in Venezuela following Washington’s issuance of so-called general licenses for energy operators willing to invest in the country.

“The issuance of the recent general licenses is a positive signal, and it, indeed, allows for progress on our Dragon project,” Shell’s spokesperson told Reuters.

The Dragon project is an offshore field that contains an estimated 4.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that Shell plans to eventually liquefy and export from its Atlantic LNG facility in Trinidad and Tobago. The supermajor has a 45% stake in the LNG project, with partner BP holding another 45%. The facility has an annual capacity of 12 million tons of liquefied gas but last year only exported 9 million tons, Reuters reported, due to insufficient natural gas supply.

Still, the amount that Shell produces at the Atlantic LNG facility accounts for a tenth of its global total in liquefied gas, Reuters also noted in its report.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued the general licenses earlier this month, allowing U.S. entities or persons to provide “goods, technology, software, or services for the exploration, development, or production of oil or gas in Venezuela” under certain limited conditions.

Earlier reports from January said Shell and BP would seek a license to move forward with their gas projects in both Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago. Shell, per a Reuters report from late January, was planning to apply for a license to develop the Loran-Manatee discovery, and BP wanted to get a license to start work on the Cocuina-Manakin field, according to the energy minister of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Loran-Manatee deposit is shared by Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, with 7.3 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Venezuelan portion and 2.7 trillion cubic feet in the Trinidad portion. The Cocuina-Manakin field contains an estimated 1 trillion cubic feet in reserves.