The Trump administration has announced that Venezuela has granted privately-held North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, 100-year concessions covering 17 oil fields with approximately 65 billion barrels of proven reserves, making it the country's second-largest private oil operator behind Chevron. Washington secured a free 35% equity stake in NABEP's parent company and the right to purchase 20% of all current and future production at cost, with first refusal on the remaining 80%. NABEP, led by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt and formerly owned by U.S. businessman Harry Sargeant, plans to invest up to $100 billion to rebuild Venezuela's crumbling oil infrastructure, while Venezuela expects roughly $200 billion in royalties and taxes over the first 25 years. The White House estimates production from the 17 fields could exceed 1.5 million barrels per day, a 24% increase over current output. However, NABEP is not publicly traded, so there is no stock for investors to buy, and the project faces significant execution risks given years of underinvestment and political uncertainty.
Chevron CorpNamed only as the largest private oil operator that NABEP now ranks behind; no Chevron-specific development.
NABEP granted 100-year concessions on 17 Venezuelan oil fields with ~65 billion barrels of reserves, boosting its production capacity.
