August 31, 2026 · Economy, Trade & Fiscal Policy
· Official action
Confirmed
White House Says the Pentagon Gets a 35% Stake in the Company Handed 100-Year Concessions to 17 Venezuelan Oil Fields
In a fact sheet issued Aug. 31, the White House set out the terms of the Venezuela oil arrangement Trump announced three days earlier. Venezuelan interim authorities have granted North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, 100-year concessions for 17 fields holding about 65 billion barrels of proven reserves. NABEP has given the Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital a 35% equity stake in its corporate parent, which the White House described as worth up to hundreds of billions in value and dividends. The U.S. government may buy 20% of output at production cost and holds a right of first refusal on the rest; NABEP is to invest up to $100 billion and pay $200 billion in royalties and taxes over 25 years.
A federal military department taking an equity position in a private foreign oil producer, with purchase rights over its output, is an unusual mixing of defense budgeting, energy policy and foreign relations, and the fact sheet is the government's own description of it.
Analysts quoted by CNBC were skeptical that the arrangement will raise U.S. supply or lower prices soon, given the investment Venezuelan fields require. Congress has not voted on the arrangement.
A federal military department taking an equity position in a private foreign oil producer, with purchase rights over its output, is an unusual mixing of defense budgeting, energy policy and foreign relations, and the fact sheet is the government's own description of it.
Analysts quoted by CNBC were skeptical that the arrangement will raise U.S. supply or lower prices soon, given the investment Venezuelan fields require. Congress has not voted on the arrangement.