The Venezuelan flag waves in front of an oil tanker on Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, on July 27, 2026.
Jose Isaac Bra | Anadolu | Getty Images
The White House announced Monday that Venezuela’s interim authorities have granted U.S.-backed North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) a 100-year concession in 17 oil fields with approximately 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.
NABEP is Venezuela’s second largest private oil producer. The company has granted the U.S. Department of the Army’s Strategic Capital Office a 35% stake in its parent company, which could represent up to “hundreds of billions of dollars in value and dividends to the United States,” the White House said.
President Donald Trump on Friday announced an agreement with Caracas that would give the United States majority control of more than 65 billion barrels, or about 20% of the South American nation’s vast oil reserves. According to official statistics, proven oil reserves in the United States will be approximately 46 billion barrels at the end of 2024.
NABEP will enjoy guaranteed purchase rights, at production cost, of 20% of water withdrawals from all current and future oil fields operated by NABEP, as part of efforts to expedite the replenishment of America’s strategic oil reserves, the U.S. government said in a fact sheet released in the U.S. on Monday evening.
The US government also has a “right of first refusal” to buy the remaining 80% of NABEP’s production, making Washington the preferred buyer of the energy reserves.
But analysts remained skeptical that the landmark oil deal could meaningfully increase U.S. energy production and lower gasoline prices for Americans in the short term. Extracting Venezuela’s rich resources requires huge investments, but decades of mismanagement, underinvestment and sanctions have left oil production at a fraction of its capacity.
NABEP also plans to invest up to $100 billion in new oil infrastructure in Venezuela to scale production, the White House said. Under the agreement, the company is expected to pay the Venezuelan government $200 billion in royalties and taxes over the first 25 years.
