Energy Secretary Chris Wright is planning to lead a group to Venezuela, as the United States expands its control over the country’s oil industry, a U.S. official told reporters Tuesday.
Wright will be in the country for a forthcoming announcement from Chevron, which plans on increasing its production capacity in Venezuela, the official said. The official spoke under the condition of anonymity under terms set by the White House.
Chevron is the only major U.S. oil company with a presence in Venezuela. Chevron’s expected expansion in the country, and the energy secretary’s visit, come after the White House announced it would be taking control of more than 65 million barrels of oil reserves in Venezuela through an agreement with North American Blue Energy Partners.
Officials provided more details Tuesday on that deal; they said it involved no investment of U.S. dollars – just the country’s backing. The equity position is a “standard deal” similar to others that the Department of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital has taken in other companies throughout the Trump administration, the officials said.
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“Right now, our interest is ensuring that the backing of the U.S. allows this company to attract the investment, the capital investment necessary to ramp up production rapidly,” an official said.
In a fact sheet from the White House released Monday, the Trump administration said the deal will give the U.S. a 35% equity stake in a corporate parent company of North American Blue Energy Partners, a private oil company that now has 100-year concessions for 17 oil fields.
That company will allow the U.S. Department of State to purchase 20% of the oil from those fields, which officials say can go towards refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The U.S. will also have the right of first refusal for the other 80% of the company’s production.
The U.S. will have veto power over the North American Blue Energy Partners board of directors.
Officials also addressed the role of Alejandro Betancourt, who runs that company, in the deal. Betancourt was involved in the operation to remove Nicolás Maduro and has worked with the U.S. government since President Donald Trump’s first term. He has also been investigated for money laundering, and senior U.S. officials have helped him avoid criminal charges.
The U.S. government vetted Betancourt, and he is not facing any charges in the United States, an official said Tuesday.
“You have to deal with the dynamics sometimes that are in a place in order to get where you want to get to. This is a proven operator,” the official said. “I’m not nominating anyone for sainthood here. What I am telling you is that this is a person that has, in the past, been helpful to the United States government.”
Though Trump has claimed the deal would lower gas prices, it isn’t expected to have an immediate effect, as many of the oil fields are still undeveloped. Trump met with refining companies and distributors Tuesday to address high gas prices.
Rather, U.S. officials said the Venezuela deal was in the interest of national security, framing it as a “geopolitical opportunity” to secure oil fields previously under the influence of Russian and Chinese companies.
“There is clearly a defined U.S. interest in ensuring one of the largest energy suppliers in our hemisphere is aligned with us, and not with an adversary,” one U.S. official told reporters.
Officials emphasized the U.S.’s desire to see “a stable, democratic Venezuela,” including free and fair elections, and said talks would resume in the middle of September toward that end.
“This is about whether this industry is professionalized, whether it looks like the oil industry of a real country, not a piggy bank for corrupt elements,” the official said. “You don’t want to see the transfer of one kleptocracy to another.”
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