The Trump administration disclosed additional terms of the deal days after President Trump announced what he called the biggest oil deal in history. Under the agreement, Venezuela’s interim authorities granted North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields holding roughly 65 billion barrels of proven reserves, according to a White House fact sheet.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signed the deal.
NABEP is majority-owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt and will give the Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital a 35% equity stake in its corporate parent. In comparison, the State Department secured the right to purchase 20% of output at production cost, a guarantee the White House said could help refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The State Department also holds the right of first refusal on the remaining 80% of production. NABEP has committed to investing up to $100 billion in new Venezuelan oil infrastructure and is projected to pay roughly $200 billion in royalties and taxes over 25 years, the fact sheet said.
The White House said the US government will hold veto power over NABEP’s board appointments, with a majority of board members required to be US citizens. Officials said many of the newly included fields were previously controlled by Russian or Chinese firms or Maduro-era insiders, framing the agreement as part of an effort to reassert the Monroe Doctrine in the Western Hemisphere.
U.S.-Venezuela ‘historic’ oil deal – U.S to control 65B barrels for at least 25 years
However, Betancourt’s central role is unsettling some oil companies evaluating investments in Venezuela. “Oil majors and large foreign companies negotiating contract migrations want to make sure they will not be seated at the same table with Betancourt,” one person involved in preparations for energy contract signings told Reuters.
Betancourt has previously been investigated by US and European authorities over past dealings with the Venezuelan government, though he was never charged and has denied wrongdoing.
ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, both of which left Venezuela in 2007 after nationalization under Hugo Chávez, have said their conditions for legal certainty have not yet been met, though Trump said Monday that Exxon was among the companies entering Venezuela. Separately, Chevron, Eni, ONGC, GeoPark and GE Vernova are on track to sign their own Venezuela energy agreements this week.
Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized the arrangement, calling it “a blatant abuse of power and taxpayer dollars.” Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez has defended the deal as a chance to modernize the country’s oil sector while insisting national sovereignty remains intact.