FILE – Flames rise from flare stacks at the Amuay refinery in Los Taques, Venezuela, Jan. 14, 2026.
Matias Delacroix/AP
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WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday said it's partnering with North American Blue Energy Partners as part of President Donald Trump 's push to tap into Venezuela's oil industry, setting up a deal that will give the Pentagon a stake over roughly a fifth of the country's vast oil reserves.
The Trump administration released more details on Monday night, days after Trump announced what he described as the biggest oil deal in history. The sweeping agreement has been met with skepticism from analysts who say it will take years to revive Venezuela's production, but Trump and his aides are pitching it as a chance to develop a new oil giant in the Western Hemisphere.
As part of the deal, the U.S. is creating a private company as a joint venture with NABEP — a detail the White House had withheld for days. NABEP, owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, is already the second largest operator in Venezuela, behind Chevron.
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez is giving the company 100-year rights over 17 oil fields with proven reserves of 65 billion barrels. Many of those fields were previously owned by Russian or Chinese firms, the White House said.
In a statement Monday, Betancourt said Venezuela is "blessed with an abundance of natural resources, hardworking people and untapped potential," adding that the deal will "unleash that potential to the great benefit of both Venezuelans and Americans."
The company said Betancourt had been involved in the Venezuelan oil industry for more than 15 years and said the company has more than 5,000 employees and more than 10,000 contractors.
The deal will give the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital a 35% ownership stake in the company, the White House disclosed Monday. The U.S. will also be guaranteed a right to purchase 20% of the output at cost, orchestrated through the State Department.
The agreement was signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Betancourt's company has agreed to put up $100 billion in new oil infrastructure investments.
Trump has been pushing to boost oil production in Venezuela since the January military mission that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro on federal narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges.
The White House claimed the deal would be "at zero cost" to the U.S., and said the government would have veto power on board members — the majority of whom would be U.S. citizens.
"NABEP will have reputable U.S. auditors, lawyers, and advisers and the U.S. government's agreement with NABEP is governed by U.S. law and is subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. courts," the White House said in a fact sheet about the deal.
Former U.S. government energy advisers have cautioned that the deal comes with political risk, since future administrations in Venezuela or the United States could challenge the deal. Even if the agreement holds, analysts say it could take years to turn around Venezuela's dilapidated energy sector.
Trump, who says the plan will reduce gas prices, acknowledged Monday that Americans won't see change right away. Asked about a timeline at the White House, Trump said "it could be a little bit" for prices to fall, and he played down analyst predictions that it could take years.
