Trump's Venezuela Oil Deal Secretly Hands a CEO Facing Money-Laundering Scrutiny a 50-Year Priority Claim, ProPublica Finds

ProPublica reviewed an 18-page agreement showing the Venezuela oil deal the Trump administration announced in August 2026 gives the U.S. a 35% stake in North American Blue Energy Partners' Barbados parent company at no upfront cost, the right to buy 20% of its oil at about $30 a barrel, and "first priority" on the rest for 50 years. The Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital structured the deal; Rubio and Hegseth signed for the U.S., and Betancourt and Orlando Alvarado signed for the operator, which Betancourt will run as CEO for an initial 15-year term only a supermajority vote can end.

The agreement does not require the $200 billion in royalties the White House cited, and its purchasing rights run about 50 years, not the "century" Trump described. Disputes go to U.S. law and a Texas court, not Venezuelan courts, and the deal is marked confidential. Betancourt has faced money-laundering investigations abroad but has not been charged and denies wrongdoing. ProPublica says the structure was designed to outlast a future administration.