The deal protects US access to Venezuelan crude and the interests of private investors, while leaving the billions promised to Venezuela without an explicit contractual guarantee.
Months after US forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration signed an oil agreement granting Washington decades of preferential purchasing rights, a ProPublica investigation has revealed.
The agreement spells out Washington’s privileges but contains no explicit guarantee of the approximately $200 billion in royalties and taxes the White House has projected for Venezuela.
Published on October 20, the investigation examines an 18-page agreement between the US government and North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), a private company led by Venezuelan billionaire Alejandro Betancourt.
The partnership provides for Washington to acquire a 35% stake through the company’s Barbados-registered parent, obtain discounted crude, and help establish a governing structure intended, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, to withstand changes of government in both countries.
Venezuela’s projected billions lack explicit guarantee
The White House has presented the agreement as a vehicle for Venezuela’s economic recovery, projecting approximately $200 billion in royalties and taxes over the first 25 years. Yet ProPublica found no provision explicitly guaranteeing that amount in the agreement it reviewed.
By contrast, the documents specify Washington’s purchasing privileges and protections for the venture’s leadership. One person who reviewed parts of the agreement questioned what Venezuela would receive in return.
“I gave you 20% of my production at ‘cost plus,’ fine. I gave you all of my production if there’s a national emergency, OK. … So what do I get in exchange?” the person said.
NABEP spokesperson Terry Wade stressed that the agreement was between the company and Washington, rather than the Venezuelan government. The absence of a guaranteed revenue figure does not mean Venezuela will receive no taxes or royalties, but the agreement does not explicitly secure the sum promoted by the White House.
Oil negotiations followed US military attack
The negotiations followed the January 3 US military attack on Venezuela, during which American forces abducted Maduro and forcibly transferred him to the United States. Washington subsequently backed Delcy Rodríguez as interim president while pursuing renewed access to the country’s petroleum resources.
According to ProPublica, administration officials initially considered proposals involving major US oil corporations before moving toward a partnership with Betancourt’s company. Some established firms were reluctant to reenter Venezuela, while others struggled to secure meaningful engagement with officials.
“NABEP was given priority,” one person familiar with the discussions said. “Exxon, Conoco and the others were treated as second class.”
Betancourt had maintained contacts with Venezuelan officials and opposition figures. According to Reuters reporting cited in the investigation, he also supplied information that assisted US operations involving Venezuelan oil tankers and preparations before Maduro’s seizure.
Rodríguez has defended the partnership and asserted that Venezuela retains sovereignty over its natural resources.
Discounted crude, decades of US purchasing privileges
The agreement gives Washington the right to purchase 20% of NABEP’s production at $30 a barrel, according to a supporting document examined by ProPublica.
For the remaining output, the United States receives priority purchasing rights lasting 50 years. A declared US national emergency would allow Washington to exercise an irrevocable right to purchase the company’s entire supply. These provisions concern NABEP’s production, rather than all Venezuelan oil.
The company must also disclose other commercial agreements it reaches and extend any more favorable terms to Washington.
The planned US ownership interest comes with similarly favorable financial terms. The documents provide for no upfront payment and allow Washington to obtain its stake by paying $0.01 per warrant share.
Full implementation remains subject to closing conditions and additional documents establishing ownership arrangements and investors’ rights.
Governing structure designed to outlast political change
The venture’s initial seven-member board is to govern for a 15-year term and establish the process for selecting successors. A majority of directors must remain US citizens, while Washington may appoint an additional non-voting observer.
There is no requirement for Venezuelan government representation on the board, despite its authority over a business extracting the country’s oil.
Sources familiar with the negotiations told ProPublica that the structure was intended to make the arrangement difficult for subsequent US or Venezuelan administrations to reverse.
“Throughout the evolution of the deal, it was clear that the governing structure was intended to ensure maximum control by the people making the deal and to insulate them from future administrations seeking to reverse the agreement or call it into question,” one person familiar with the negotiations said.
Betancourt’s position as chief executive is also protected. Removing him requires five votes on the seven-member board, as do changes to its composition. The board will determine his compensation, with no apparent requirement for public disclosure of executive pay or share distributions, according to the investigation.
Confidentiality provisions obscure private beneficiaries
The signed agreement was marked sensitive and included a confidentiality clause prohibiting NABEP from disclosing its existence or terms, according to ProPublica.
The document also provides limited information about the investors behind the company’s Barbados-registered parent, leaving some potential beneficiaries unidentified. Although the company must undergo external audits, maintain anti-money-laundering safeguards, and submit financial information to the US government, it remains unclear whether those records will become public.
Betancourt’s selection has drawn additional scrutiny because he has faced money-laundering investigations in several countries.
Orlando Alvarado, who signed the agreement on behalf of the parent company, has held senior positions in Betancourt’s businesses. According to Miami Herald reporting cited by ProPublica, US prosecutors identified him as an unindicted co-conspirator in a scheme to embezzle money from Venezuela’s national oil company.
The company rejects the allegations. Wade said that “neither Mr. Betancourt nor Mr. Alvarado has ever been charged with any crime in any country, and any claims against them are baseless.”
US courts and Pentagon authority
The agreement places disputes between the US government and the company under US federal law, with Texas law applying where appropriate, and designates the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas as the forum for proceedings.
The administration’s proposed use of the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital to execute the ownership transaction has also attracted congressional objections.
According to ProPublica, officials pursued that route after confronting restrictions preventing the International Development Finance Corporation from operating in Venezuela. Senate Democrats have questioned whether the Pentagon office possesses the legal authority to carry out the arrangement.
The Pentagon said it conducts extensive due diligence but declined to address the specific legal questions raised by the investigation.
Investment promises, production constraints
The White House and NABEP maintain that the partnership will attract investment, expand production, and support Venezuela’s economic recovery.
“This historic deal marks a major step toward stabilizing Venezuela’s economy after years of hyperinflation and almost no new investment, while more than doubling the United States’ oil reserves,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said.
In a separate statement, NABEP said it expected the venture to generate employment, infrastructure investment, and increased tax revenue for Venezuela.
The investigation also identifies limits to the administration’s promise of inexpensive oil. NABEP currently produces approximately 200,000 barrels daily, while the advertised purchase price excludes the cost of blending materials needed to transport some Venezuelan heavy crude.
Wade disputed that these costs would meaningfully affect the company’s economics, saying much of its production comes from fields requiring little or no blending material.
The agreement reviewed by ProPublica sets out Washington’s purchasing advantages and the venture’s corporate protections in detail. The approximately $200 billion promoted as Venezuela’s return over 25 years remains a projection, not an explicit payment guarantee in that text.
Source ProPublica
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