Yesterday, August 31, the White House released a fact sheet detailing the data behind what Donald Trump touts as “the largest oil deal in world history.”
Eight months after the Absolute Resolve operation, which led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro by American special forces on January 3 and the installation in Caracas of “provisional authorities” drawn from the chavista regime yet authorized by Washington, this three-page document governs the transfer, for a period of 100 years, of 65 billion barrels drawn from Venezuela’s proven oil reserves to a private company, with the United States effectively holding the majority.
This text can be read as the first contractual implementation of the third phase of the recolonization doctrine shaping the American administration. In plain terms, after a decapitation operation that deployed the United States’ technological and military hyperpower (1), then the installation of a regime fundamentally vassal without genuine political transition or regime change (2), comes the moment for the imperial center to reap the benefits through hybrid, clan-based forms (3).
This accord is historic in several respects. Venezuela has asymmetrically ceded its principal resource to a private company led by an oligarch who made his fortune within chavismo, but who is firmly subservient to American power. This company is partly owned by the protector power, which nearly wholly controls its board, and its contracts are governed by its own laws and courts. It mirrors almost word-for-word the profitable neocolonial governance plan articulated by Curtis Yarvin, who praised the intervention in Venezuela as “the perfect laboratory for 21st-century governance,” and the Charter society model promoted by Erik Prince under the slogan “Bring Back Colonialism.”
The text also provides the first large-scale illustration of the administration’s reinterpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, with the third chapter literally titled “Reaffirmation of the Monroe Doctrine and Expulsion of Foreign Rivals from Our Hemisphere.”
Reading this document and, after crunching the numbers and the coercive framework it presupposes, one is left with a question: have we seen an agreement of this kind since the end of colonialism?
Fact Sheet: The President Donald J. Trump Announces a Historic Oil Deal to Secure American Energy Dominance and Propel Venezuela’s Economic Recovery (White House, August 31, 2026)
Ensuring a Stable, Low-Cost Oil Supply in Our Hemisphere
This agreement guarantees our energy dominance for the century ahead—at zero cost to the United States.
The agreement, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, grants the American government extended governance rights, an economic ownership stake, and a guaranteed low-cost offtake rights to a new Venezuelan private oil champion, which will become the second-largest private oil company in the world by reserves:
- As part of this agreement, Venezuelan interim authorities granted North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), a private oil company that is the second-largest private oil producer in Venezuela and an established operator…
… 100-year concessions on 17 oil fields representing proven reserves of about 65 billion barrels.
- At no cost to American taxpayers, NABEP granted the Office of Strategic Capital of the Department of War a 35% equity stake in its parent company, potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars in value and dividends for the United States.
- NABEP granted the State Department the right to purchase, at production cost, 20% guaranteed offtake from all current and future fields NABEP will operate—ensuring a stable, low-cost oil supply that could facilitate filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), which Joe Biden has drawn down to historically low levels, and support military and other sensitive uses.
- NABEP also granted the State Department a right of first refusal on the purchase of the remaining 80% of its production, guaranteeing a secure energy source in our hemisphere in times of emergency.
- The U.S. government holds a veto over the appointment of any board member, and NABEP’s board must be majority American citizens. NABEP will have American auditors, lawyers, and advisers, and the agreement with NABEP is governed by American law and subject to the jurisdiction of American courts.
- Millions of barrels of the new Venezuelan production will be refined in American refineries and extracted with American drilling equipment and infrastructure, supporting billions of dollars in investment in the United States and thousands of jobs here at home.
Driving Economic Recovery and Rebuilding the Venezuelan Oil Sector
This privatization and unprecedented level of investment in Venezuela’s energy sector mark a key step in the Trump administration’s three-pronged plan—stabilization, reconstruction, and democratic transition. Private-sector-driven growth in production and investment in Venezuela is a crucial precondition for continuing reforms and the democratic transition following the remarkable success of Operation Absolute Resolve:
- NABEP has developed an ambitious plan to rapidly raise production by investing up to $100 billion in new oil infrastructure in Venezuela, contributing to economic growth, supporting thousands of well-paid jobs in Venezuela, and generating tens of billions of dollars in broader economic activity.
- The NABEP concessions are governed by the newly enacted Venezuelan hydrocarbons law, adopted with U.S. support, which is set to modernize, privatize, and develop Venezuela’s historically lagging oil sector.
Under this framework, as NABEP’s production grows, it will pay an estimated $200 billion in royalties and taxes over the first 25 years, representing revenue and budget support critical for current and future Venezuelan governments to finance reconstruction and social development.
- After years of underinvestment and mismanagement, most Venezuelan oil fields are either non-producing or far below their potential. By investing in a proven private operator with demonstrated capability to raise production in the country and able to attract American private capital for capital expenditures, Venezuela has a historic opportunity to revitalize its key sector, accelerate its oil production growth, and develop its economy.
- The solid governance and audit provisions of the U.S. government, together with the banking reform, payment supervision, and financial monitorship instituted by the Trump administration, will ensure that royalties and taxes are spent in the interest of the Venezuelan people.
- The United States is backing reconciliation talks between the 2015 National Assembly and the interim authorities—a process that has already yielded significant judicial reforms, the release of hundreds of political prisoners, and collaborative efforts to fund reconstruction after the devastating tremors in June. The process will continue with new meetings in September.
Reaffirming the Monroe Doctrine and Expelling Foreign Adversaries from Our Hemisphere
The majority of the additional oil fields to be operated by NABEP were previously controlled or operated by Russian and Chinese firms, or by Maduro and Chávez loyalists. These malign foreign actors plundered Venezuela’s resources for the benefit of America’s adversaries—Cuba, Russia, and China—while neglecting infrastructure investment and development in Venezuela.
- The President has restored the Monroe Doctrine, purging our backyard of malign foreign influence and ensuring that American dominance in our hemisphere is never again questioned.
- Working with old and new partners, the Trump administration is building in our hemisphere new, robust, strategic, and defensible supply chains to support the revival of our manufacturing and energy sectors after years of globalist decline.