The United States has secured operational control and majority rights over roughly 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s proven oil reserves, under a sweeping bilateral agreement that the White House has touted as the largest energy deal in history.
The arrangement grants 25-year concessions on 17 strategic oil fields located in the Orinoco Belt and the Lake Maracaibo basin—two of Venezuela’s richest crude-producing regions—through a private consortium called North American Blue Energy Partners. As part of the deal, Venezuela will also supply crude directly to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve at production cost, essentially without markup.
The agreement was struck with Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, and US Energy Secretary Chris Wright serving as the deal’s public faces. But the pact has drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups and analysts, who argue that Washington’s decision to prioritize energy access over political reform effectively props up what they call a “pragmatic authoritarianism” in Caracas. Critics say the deal risks legitimizing a government still facing serious questions about democratic governance, while postponing any real pressure for elections or institutional reform.
The debate captures a broader tension in US foreign policy toward Venezuela: whether securing energy stability and cheaper oil is worth deprioritizing the country’s long-stalled democratic transition.
For the full report, read the original story at El Tiempo.
Source: ¿Estabilidad o libertad? Acuerdo petrolero entre Estados Unidos y Venezuela posterga la agenda democrática del país (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: joncutrer, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).