WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - In a major international oil deal that opens the vast oil reserves of Venezuela to the United States, President Donald Trump announced that his administration has secured U.S. majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of oil reserves in Venezuela.
The deal, vastly expanding the current U.S. territorial proven reserves of roughly 46 billion barrels, secures the United States' energy dominance for the next century. The deal, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, gives the U.S. government powerful governance rights, economic ownership, and guaranteed low-cost off-take from a new private Venezuelan oil company, North American Blue Energy Partners.
Under this agreement, the interim government in Venezuela granted NABEP 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields in the country.
NABEP is the second-largest private oil company by reserves in the world.
NABEP has granted the U.S. Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital a 35 percent equity stake in its corporate parent company, representing up to hundreds of billions in value and dividends for the United States, according to the White House.
It has also granted the U.S. Department of State the right to purchase, at production cost, a guaranteed 20 percent of the off-take from all current and future fields NABEP will operate - ensuring a stable supply of low-cost oil that can facilitate refilling the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and to provide supply for military and other sensitive uses.
NABEP has also granted the U.S. Department of State the right of first refusal to purchase the remaining 80 percent of its production, providing a guaranteed source of energy in western hemisphere in emergency situations.
Ensuring additional U.S. control on the Venezuelan company, the deal provides U.S. government a veto power over the appointment of any member of the board of directors, and a clause which stipulates that a majority of NABEP's board of directors must be U.S. citizens.
NABEP will have reputable U.S. auditors, lawyers, and advisors 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.
Millions of barrels of new Venezuelan output will be processed through U.S. refineries and pumped with American rigs and infrastructure, supporting billions in investment in the United States and thousands of jobs at home, the White House said.
This groundbreaking privatization and investment in Venezuela's energy sector is a key step in the Trump Administration's three-part plan of stabilization, reconstruction and democratic transition in the Latin American country. Private-sector led growth in production, output, and investment in Venezuela is a key precondition to driving continued reform and democratic transition following the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a U.S. military raid earlier this year.
NABEP has developed an ambitious plan to rapidly scale production by investing up to $100 billion in new oil infrastructure in Venezuela, helping to drive economic growth, support thousands of high-paying jobs in Venezuela, and lead to tens of billions in broader economic activity.
NABEP's concessions are governed by Venezuela's new hydrocarbons law, which provides for modernization, privatization and development of Venezuela's lagging oil sector. Under this framework, as it scales production, NABEP will pay an estimated $200 billion in royalty and tax payments to the Venezuelan government over the first 25 years, representing critical revenue and fiscal support for current and future governments to fund reconstruction and social development.
The White House alleged that the majority of the incremental oil fields to be operated by NABEP were previously controlled by Russian and Chinese firms, or by corrupt cronies of Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez.
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