Britain's BP and the United Arab Emirates' XRG have been awarded an exploration and production license for a Venezuelan offshore gas development.

The Loran field in the Plataforma Deltana area holds an estimated 4 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas, the companies said late Thursday. The field is part of the Loran-Manatee offshore gas accumulation and straddles the maritime boundary between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago.

The license is for phase 2 of the field and is expected to be delivered in parallel with phase 1.

XRG is the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's international investment arm. Qatar-based UCC Oil and Gas will also hold an interest. The field will be operated by BP and each party will have an equal working interest.

Energy majors have been reassessing Venezuela after the ousting of former President Nicolas Maduro by the U.S. The country holds some of the world's largest oil resources but years of underinvestment means it lacks the infrastructure needed to extract it competitively.

At the same time, oil majors lack confidence that the political and legal frameworks are in place to protect their investment after being stung in the country previously.

ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips pulled out of Venezuela in 2007 after former President Hugo Chavez nationalized their assets. Others are still owed billions of dollars for oil and gas they continued to produce and deliver to the country.