White House working with North American Blue Energy Partners on Venezuela oil deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Monday said it’s partnering with North American Blue Energy Partners in a deal that will give the Pentagon a stake in Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

In releasing new details of the plan, announced Friday, the White House said the U.S. is forming a new company with NABEP, already the second largest operator in Venezuela, in hopes of creating a new oil giant.

The deal will give the Pentagon a 35% ownership stake in the company, and the State Department will get a guarantee to purchase 20% of the output at cost.

It’s part of President Donald Trump’s push to boost production and extract energy from Venezuela nine months after the capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro on federal narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges.

NABEP, owned by Alejandro Betancourt, has agreed to invest $100 billion in new oil infrastructure, the White House said.

It claimed the deal would be “at zero cost” to the U.S., and said the government would have veto power on board members -- the majority of whom would be U.S. citizens.

“NABEP will have reputable U.S. auditors, lawyers, and advisers and the U.S. government’s agreement with NABEP is governed by U.S. law and is subject to the jurisdiction of U.S. courts,” the White House said in a fact sheet about the deal.

The deal gives the new oil company 100-year rights over 17 oil fields with proven reserves of about 65 billion barrels. Many of those fields were previously owned by Russian or Chinese firms, the White House said

Former U.S. government energy advisers have cautioned that the deal comes with political risk, since future administrations in Venezuela or the United States could challenge the deal.