A Venezuelan flag waves in front of oil tanker on lake in Maracaibo, Venezuela on July 27, 2026.
Jose Isaac Bula | Anadolu | Getty Images
Venezuelan interim authorities have granted U.S.-backed North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields, with proven reserves of about 65 billion barrels, the White House said on Monday.
NABEP is the second-largest private oil producer in Venezuela. The company has granted the U.S. Department of War’s Office of Strategic Capital an equity stake of 35% in its corporate parent, according to the White House, representing up to “hundreds of billions in value and dividends for the United States.”
President Donald Trump announced Friday a deal with Caracas that would give the U.S. majority control over 65 billions, about 20%, of the South American nation’s massive oil reserves.
In a fact sheet published Monday evening stateside, the U.S. government said it would enjoy the right to purchase, at production cost, a guaranteed 20% of the off-take from all current and future fields NABEP will operate, as part of an effort to facilitate refilling the U.S. strategic petroleum reserves.
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