President Donald Trump has announced a deal that gives the United States control of a major share of Venezuela's oil reserves. Photo / Getty Images
President Donald Trump says the United States has secured a long-term stake in a vast share of Venezuela’s oil fields, a potentially costly and legally precarious proposal that aims to nudge reluctant energy companies to drill in the risky region.
The plan involves the US taking more direct control over
Venezuelan reserves as crime and steep logistical challenges discourage private investors.
Under it, according to federal officials, the US has gained a controlling stake in nearly a quarter of Venezuela’s untapped oil reserves. It makes the US the majority owner of a giant new joint venture oil company that will hold 100-year contracts at the Venezuelan oil fields.
The key Venezuelan partner in the deal is Alejandro Betancourt, who controls the second-largest private oil company in the country. Betancourt, 46, has also been the subject of investigations in multiple countries into alleged money laundering and faces a Swiss warrant for his arrest.
“The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” Trump posted on social media today. “At my direction, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, working closely with Highly Respected Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, and, through a partnership with private business, have secured majority US control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela.”
The announcement comes as Trump’s approval ratings hover in the mid to high 30s about two months before the midterm elections. He has repeatedly assured the country the high price of petrol, a key voter concern tied in significant part to the unresolved Iran war now entering its seventh month, is only temporary. In his post today, Trump said the Venezuela deal “will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans”, although most experts say that any real increase in Venezuelan oil production is years away.
Trump also claimed the deal would come at no cost to US taxpayers. But deal points reviewed by The Washington Post and interviews with people who were close to negotiations as the deal came together suggest that for the plan to succeed in producing oil in the amounts the administration projects, the US Government may ultimately need to invest significant amounts.
A list shared with The Post before the deal was announced noted 17 oil fields in which the US would take a stake. Several of the fields lack any infrastructure or access to transport hubs to treat and move the crude. Those where such infrastructure does exist have fallen victim to years of neglect and theft of machinery.
Pumping oil from the fields could require investments of many billions of dollars and costly security plans to protect oil workers and production facilities in lawless and violent regions. The deal points reviewed by The Post say the US Government stake in the newly formed oil company will be split between equity ownership and guarantees that it will purchase oil produced by it at cost to refill the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
But it is unclear who would make the tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investments needed before oil can be pumped from the largely dormant fields. Major oil companies have mostly seen such spending as too risky.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X that the agreement “will bring nearly US$100 billion [$169b] in private investment” to Venezuela, without specifying which companies have committed to such spending.
Betancourt’s company, North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, would be the major private Venezuelan entity involved, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
The Defence Department, through its Office of Strategic Capital (OSC), would oversee and help fund the oil field licences, according to the person familiar with the discussions and one other with knowledge of the talks. The mission of that office is to “accelerate and scale private investment in critical supply chain technologies”.
Pentagon officials said they could not comment on any particular deals being weighed at the OSC, but they stressed the office cannot take any ownership stake in private companies.
