Phoenix 24
The agreement grants Washington corporate and purchasing power without transferring formal ownership of Venezuela’s underground reserves.
CARACAS, VENEZUELA
Venezuela’s National Assembly has approved an agreement giving the United States extensive control over 17 oil fields containing an estimated 65 billion barrels, approximately one-fifth of the country’s proven reserves. The arrangement represents a dramatic expansion of Washington’s influence over Venezuela’s most important industry.
The fields will be operated under 100-year concessions granted to North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, a privately controlled Venezuelan oil company. The US Department of Defense will receive a 35 percent stake in its parent company, while Washington will hold veto power over board appointments. US citizens must also constitute a majority of the company’s directors.
The State Department will be entitled to purchase 20 percent of NABEP’s production at cost and will have first refusal on the remaining output. These rights could supply American refineries, replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and strengthen Washington’s control over hemispheric energy flows. They do not, however, constitute legal ownership of the petroleum still beneath Venezuelan territory.
The Trump administration says the agreement will attract as much as $100 billion in private investment, rebuild deteriorated infrastructure and reduce US fuel prices. Venezuelan officials project hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes and royalties over the coming decades. Such forecasts remain uncertain because many fields are underproductive, Venezuela’s electrical and transport systems require extensive repairs, and heavy crude is expensive to extract and process.
Opposition lawmakers abstained from the parliamentary vote after being denied access to the complete written terms. Legal specialists have also questioned whether the concessions and foreign governmental rights comply with Venezuela’s Constitution and hydrocarbons legislation. The agreement additionally replaces Russian and Chinese influence in several fields with American corporate and governmental authority. Its significance therefore extends beyond oil production: it places control of a strategic national resource at the centre of Venezuela’s political transition and Washington’s renewed assertion of dominance in Latin America.
Lo visible y lo oculto, en contexto. / The visible and the hidden, in context.