Days after Trump announces Venezuela oil deal, White House fills in some of the details

FILE - Flames rise from flare stacks at the Amuay refinery in Los Taques, Venezuela, Jan. 14, 2026. Matias Delacroix/AP hide caption

WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday said it's partnering with North American Blue Energy Partners as part of President Donald Trump 's push to tap into Venezuela's oil industry, setting up a deal that will give the Pentagon a stake over roughly a fifth of the country's vast oil reserves.

The Trump administration released more details on Monday night, days after Trump announced what he described as the biggest oil deal in history. The sweeping agreement has been met with skepticism from analysts who say it will take years to revive Venezuela's production, but Trump and his aides are pitching it as a chance to develop a new oil giant in the Western Hemisphere.

As part of the deal, the U.S. is creating a private company as a joint venture with NABEP — a detail the White House had withheld for days. NABEP, owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, is already the second largest operator in Venezuela, behind Chevron.

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez is giving the company 100-year rights over 17 oil fields with proven reserves of 65 billion barrels. Many of those fields were previously owned by Russian or Chinese firms, the White House said.

In a statement Monday, Betancourt said Venezuela is "blessed with an abundance of natural resources, hardworking people and untapped potential," adding that the deal will "unleash that potential to the great benefit of both Venezuelans and Americans."

The company said Betancourt had been involved in the Venezuelan oil industry for more than 15 years and said the company has more than 5,000 employees and more than 10,000 contractors.

The deal will give the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital a 35% ownership stake in the company, the White House disclosed Monday. The U.S. will also be guaranteed a right to purchase 20% of the output at cost, orchestrated through the State Department.