Trump wants to make Venezuela an oil supplier to the USA and thus drive down the price of gasoline. But the supposedly big coup cannot solve his dilemma.
Bastian Brauns reports from Washington
It could be such nice news for Donald Trump be. The solution to his inflation and gasoline price problems could lie in the country whose previous ruler, Nicolás Maduro, he kidnapped with the help of a military operation and in court in the United States had put.
Venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves in the world. Now the Trump administration has concluded a deal with the government of Maduro’s successor Delcy Rodríguez, which is intended to give not only American companies but also the state itself access to a significant portion of these reserves.
- Largest reserves in the world: Trump announces huge oil deal
- Trump’s “economic D-Day”: Now America is paying the price
But what is behind this oil deal? When does the oil actually flow? And is Trump’s move, which is said to have been engineered primarily by his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, at all suitable for increasing the rise in energy prices? USA to dampen?
Venezuela should solve Trump’s oil price problem
The US President himself called his agreement with Venezuela the “biggest oil deal in the world” on his “Truth Social” platform. The US government should therefore explore and ultimately exploit 17 oil fields together with a private Venezuelan company. The USA should receive 55 percent of the production.
The company based at North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) is behind the project Barbados. The company already operates oil fields in Venezuela and says it wants to increase its production to one million barrels per day within five years with up to five billion dollars in outside capital.
The role of the American state is unusual and unexpected. The USA has different properties than about Saudi Arabia or Mexico no state-owned oil company that could operate such projects itself. However, this is not the first time that the Trump administration wants to intervene heavily in the private sector from the state side.
According to the plans known so far, the Pentagon should support the development through its Office of Strategic Capital. NABEP, on the other hand, is supposed to take over the operational work. At the same time, the US government should be given the right to acquire shares in NABEP or an affiliated company.
A deal with political question marks and risks
Politically, the business is on shaky ground. Because the contracting partner of the USA is a government that did not come to power through an election. Current President Delcy Rodríguez took office after the United States ousted Maduro in January. This also means uncertainty for investors. Because it is a deal with the government of Venezuela, whose future depends on Trump. That’s probably why the government, as the American taxpayer, had to step in.
