Trump’s “Historic Deal” With Venezuela Isn’t Fooling Oil Traders
Two days after President Trump called his new Venezuela agreement “the biggest oil deal in world history,” the story has already moved past the barrels themselves. A Pentagon spokesman contradicted the reported ownership structure.
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Key Facts
- Fact 1: control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves.
- Fact 2: Rodriguez called it “historic” in a televised address Saturday night, describing a 25-year agreement covering 17 oilfields with a production target of 1.5 million barrels a day.
- Fact 3: Brent crude jumped more than 2% Monday morning, not over anything related to Venezuela, but because the U.S.
- Fact 4: official told PBS the arrangement gives Washington a 55% effective interest in a newly formed private company that will run the 17 fields, with the right to buy oil at cost for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve… By Saturday, the Wall Street Journal was reporting something different: a 35% passive stake in North American Blue Energy Partners, a firm already pumping around 200,000 barrels a day in Venezuela, financed through Pentagon “penny warrants” rather than a direct equity purchase.
Two days after President Trump called his new Venezuela agreement “the biggest oil deal in world history,” the story has already moved past the barrels themselves. A Pentagon spokesman contradicted the reported ownership structure.
The company positioned to run the fields changed hands under murky circumstances just weeks before the deal was announced. And the revenue figures Caracas released over the weekend fall apart under basic math. Trump announced the deal Friday on Truth Social, saying Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had negotiated with Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez to secure majority U.S.
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