A Guardian investigation says Trump’s Venezuela oil deal may be unworkable: Venezuelan law caps oil deals at 25 years, and experts question the Pentagon’s authority to own Nabep shares. Venezuelan oil will not soon refill the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
The administration says the Pentagon will own 35% of North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep), but a Pentagon briefing to Congress describes warrants—rights to purchase shares—rather than shares themselves. The State Department says it will have the right to buy 20% of Nabep’s oil at cost; the process is unclear, and experts say the structure would not bring new capital into Venezuela’s oil sector.
The State Department calls the arrangement a private deal with Nabep, not Venezuela’s interim government, though Trump initially announced an agreement with the country. Nabep’s owner, Alejandro Betancourt López, has been drawn into multiple international investigations linked to Venezuelan corruption allegations, but has never been charged with or convicted of a crime; his lawyer says he never misappropriated money.
