Venezuela says it holds some 300 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, against an estimated 46 billion barrels in the United States.
Other governments buy oil on the market or pump it through a state company. This one is buying a share of a private company's Venezuelan oil business, and it is doing it through the Pentagon.
"So they basically are themselves becoming an investor in Venezuelan oil."
Vera Bergengruen covers national security for The Wall Street Journal in Washington, and co-wrote the reporting that assembled this deal from the outside: the terms, the officials who negotiated them, and the Venezuelan businessman on the other side of the table.
I listened to the full episode so you can skip it. 22 minutes of audio, 14 minutes of reading.
Here are the 10 takeaways that matter.
👤 Guest: Vera Bergengruen, national security reporter at The Wall Street Journal in Washington, previously a senior correspondent at Time
🎙️ Host: Jessica Mendoza, co-host of The Journal, the Wall Street Journal's daily show about money, business and power
📰 Published: 1 September 2026 on Apple Podcasts (The Wall Street Journal and Spotify Studios)
🟢 Spotify | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | ⏱️ 22 min | ✅ Time saved: 8 min
Key Takeaways
The U.S. government is becoming a shareholder in a Venezuelan oil company, not a customer of one The stake is being taken through the Pentagon, which Bergengruen said has never been tried
The mechanism is a Pentagon office almost nobody involved had heard of It was set up under the Biden administration in 2022 to work like a bank for supply chains that matter to national security
The administration chose a partner the American majors would not have chosen Alejandro Betancourt faced money-laundering and corruption investigations in Europe and was never charged
On paper the U.S. gets a 35% stake and the right to buy 20% of the company's production at cost
Venezuela's constitution says the reserves cannot be handed to a foreign government or a private company
The government that signed was never elected, and the U.S. now has a financial reason to keep it in place
American drivers get nothing out of this for years Venezuela is currently producing about as much oil as North Dakota
1. The U.S. Takes a Stake
President Trump announced the agreement on Truth Social on a Friday night, in terms Mendoza read back to open the show: "The biggest oil deal in world history." Bergengruen said the newsroom had heard something was coming and had guessed wrong about what it was.
The surprise was not that there was a deal but that the U.S. government was on one side of it. "So they basically are themselves becoming an investor in Venezuelan oil." Venezuela grants a private company the rights to develop the fields, and the U.S. takes a stake in that company through the Pentagon
Bergengruen said the announcement caught the reporters covering it: "No one really knew that this was happening. We were all really, really surprised when this came out."
There is no precedent for the structure. "This has never really been tried before." She added that the route through the Pentagon surprised people as much as the deal itself
Mendoza framed the timing for listeners: the war in Iran drags on, gas prices stay high, and voters get ready to go to the polls
The administration is using Venezuela as insurance against the Middle East. "And from my conversations with people involved in this, the Trump administration is really trying to use this as a hedge against the chaos in the Middle East because of Trump's decision to go to war with Iran."
The stated use of the oil is to refill the U.S. emergency stockpile, on a timetable that outlasts the presidency. "And Trump has said that he's going to use this oil to refill the U.S. strategic petroleum reserve and have all these grand plans, but most of this is not going to happen until way after he's out of office."
2. Trump Wanted This for Years
Venezuela holds the largest oil reserves in the world, and the gap with the United States is roughly six to one. Mendoza gave the numbers: "The country says it has some 300 billion barrels of proven reserves. By comparison, the U.S. has an estimated 46 billion barrels."
The interest predates the removal of Nicolas Maduro. "So the president, even before he decided to take out Nicolas Maduro, was talking about how one of his biggest interests in this country was the oil and securing a reliable source of crude in the Western hemisphere, especially as things in the Middle East are very unstable on and off."
Mendoza said Maduro was ousted in January and replaced by Delcy Rodriguez, his vice president
That same week, Mendoza said, Trump gathered American oil executives at the White House and pressured them to start drilling
3. Big Oil Wanted Guarantees
The companies wanted back into Venezuela and still would not move. "So they really tried to incentivize U.S. oil companies to come in, and U.S. oil companies for a long time really wanted to get back in." What they asked for was protection rather than money: "They wanted security guarantees. They want legal reforms, judicial reforms."
Removing Maduro did not make the country safe to invest in. "Despite taking out President Maduro, Venezuela has been incredibly unstable. It is dangerous. There's a lot of armed groups around a lot of these oil fields. Things are rusting." Bergengruen said there had been no real change to the infrastructure, the security or the government, and that several companies said so publicly
Mendoza pointed to the chief executive of Exxon, who said his company could not invest in Venezuela in its current state
Reforms did come, and they came too slowly for the president. "And that really frustrated the president. And over the last eight months or so, there have been quite a few reforms and things have been moving, but way too slowly for what he wanted."
4. Trump Pivots to Venezuela
By the president's own account the benefits had already arrived. Bergengruen said he has not talked much about democracy in Venezuela: "He does kind of revel in being seen as the liberator of Venezuela. But by President Trump's own telling, the oil has been flowing and most importantly, America has been hugely benefiting."
The money has not. Mendoza summarized the reporting: "According to Vera's reporting, Venezuela is selling oil and the U.S. is controlling the process, but so far that money hasn't actually come to the U.S."
Bergengruen said Venezuela cannot be read apart from the Iran war. "I think it's really important to note that you can't separate what's happening in Venezuela from what's happening from the fallout of Trump's decision to go to war with Iran." "The Strait of Hormuz was closed. It really impacted global energy markets. It really impacted the bottom line for many Americans."
Venezuela has become the answer to questions about Iran. "And if you notice, every time Trump is asked about Iran, he pivots back to Venezuela."
The president's own language created the problem his staff then had to solve. "And because he kept talking about it in these really maximalist terms, a lot of the people around him were looking at this and trying to figure out how can we really put some teeth behind this notion that the U.S. is actually accessing all this oil and that it's going to be a long-term thing that is going to benefit the American people."
5. The Pentagon's Obscure Bank
The work accelerated about half a year ago. "About six months ago, things really started moving." The aim, she said, was to use the backing of the U.S. government to convince private investors the risk was worth taking
Three parts of the government were in it, and one of them was unexpected. "So within the U.S. government, the energy Secretary, Chris Wright, who went to Caracas, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, and strangely enough, the Pentagon, which was brought in rather late, but it has an obscure office that they realized could help call it the Office of Strategic Capital, OSC, which most people had never heard of."
Mendoza explained what the office is: "The Office of Strategic Capital was created under the Biden administration in 2022. It was built to work like a bank to secure financing for supply chains crucial to national security, and it was run by the Pentagon."
Almost nobody had heard of it, including the people doing the deal. "A lot of the negotiators said they'd never heard of it. A lot of my colleagues said they'd never heard of it." Mendoza said the name gives nothing away, and Bergengruen agreed: "It tells you nothing. Exactly."
The legal move was to classify access to Venezuelan oil as a national security asset. "They decided to do something very unusual, which was treat access to Venezuelan oil as a national security matter, as a strategic asset." "And basically they found a loophole where they could claim that and then use this office as their preferred mechanism to have the U.S. government take a direct stake in Venezuelan oil."
6. Why They Picked Betancourt
The Venezuelan side of the deal is one businessman. "The person they settled on is Alejandro Betancourt. He's a controversial Venezuelan businessman who made a fortune doing business during the Chavez era."
Mendoza identified the company: "Alejandro Betancourt runs a company called North American Blue Energy Partners. It's the second largest private oil company in Venezuela."
Bergengruen placed him in a group of Venezuelan deal makers who grew rich on government connections: "They're called the bolichicos, and they're people who really benefited from their connections with Chavez to make a lot of money."
Mendoza added the legal history: "Betancourt had lived in Europe where he'd faced criminal investigations for alleged money laundering and corruption. He was never charged."
What he offered that the American majors did not was speed and a tolerance for risk. "He already had operations on the ground, he had these relationships in Caracas, but more importantly, he had the willingness to move extremely quickly without as much of a concern for the risks." He was already talking to Delcy Rodriguez while the U.S. was preparing to remove Maduro, Bergengruen said
7. A 35% Stake and Cheap Oil
The terms the White House has confirmed are an equity stake plus a discount on the output. "We're still unraveling a lot of the details of how this is actually going to work, but for what's on paper right now that we have reported and the White House has confirmed, the U.S. basically gets a 35% stake in this company owned by Betancourt, and then they get the right to buy 20% of its oil production at cost." "So basically they get first dibs and they get to do it more cheaply."
The acreage is a fifth of the country's reserves, and the Pentagon is helping pay for it. Mendoza: "Under the terms of the deal announced by the Trump administration, Betancourt's company would have an opportunity to develop 17 oil fields set to contain 65 billion barrels of oil or one-fifth of the country's reserves, and the Pentagon would help finance it."
Bergengruen listed what the U.S. gets in three parts. "The way we understand the deal now, the U.S. essentially gets three big things. They get a piece of this company, they get cheaper access to oil, and then they get substantial control over where that oil goes."
Mendoza said U.S. officials expect the result to be a company holding more proven reserves than any other corporation apart from Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company
The disputed part is when any of it arrives. "And he says it's going to be very soon, which is something that experts tell us is impossible."
8. The Constitution Problem
Mendoza explained the legal background: Venezuela's oil industry has been controlled by the state since the 1970s, and that arrangement was later written into the constitution
The constitution appears to bar precisely this transfer. "And Venezuela's constitution says that the country's reserves belong to the state and they can't be transferred to a foreign government, to a private company." Bergengruen put the rule in its political context: "Venezuela is coming out of almost three decades of this socialist government, which built itself on oil in that it's only for the benefit of the Venezuelan people." Mendoza said the country has spent decades describing those reserves as the main source of its wealth, which is why the deal hit a nerve
The larger objection is about who signed it. "So of course now a lot of people are saying that this really does appear to be in conflict with the constitution, what Trump and Rodriguez have agreed to, but also just as importantly, one of the biggest issues hanging over all of this is that the government that is agreeing to this was never elected."
Mendoza said international observers, including the U.S., have said the Maduro government did not legitimately win the election that brought it to power in 2024, and that much of that government stayed in place after Maduro was removed
Rodriguez holds the job because Washington wants her to. "She's only being kept there because Trump likes her, because the U.S. backs her, but again, she was not elected."
Her incentive is survival, not terms. "At this point, the Rodriguez government is only trying to keep itself in power." Bergengruen said White House officials described the conversation with her to her as a notification: "We informed her this was happening. She is cooperative."
Routing the deal through a private company is the answer to all of it. "The Trump administration is very adamant that they are not signing this deal with Delcy Rodriguez. They are making this deal with a private company and that private company is dealing with the Venezuelan government, and that is how they're getting around all of these tricky illegal questions." Mendoza asked whether the deal would survive Rodriguez losing an election, and Bergengruen answered "Exactly" before explaining the workaround Mendoza said a source involved in the negotiations told Bergengruen the private-company structure was deliberately intended to bind future Venezuelan governments to the agreement and make it hard to unwind
9. The Reaction at Home
Republicans are not attacking the deal, and are uncomfortable with what it locks in. "We've seen a lot of Republicans reluctant to criticize the deal itself because they don't want to criticize the president, but really uncomfortable with the fact that this is entrenching Delcy Rodriguez as the ruler of Venezuela for a very long time, given that now the U.S. practically has a financial stake in keeping her in power."
Bergengruen said the hardliners in the party had spent decades refusing to deal with the Venezuelan government at all
The praise came with a condition. "We saw Ted Cruz, the senator from Texas, cautiously praise the deal." She said he went on to say that none of it works without elections: "But say that none of this is going to work if there aren't fair and free elections really soon."
American oil companies now face a competitor their own government owns part of. "From oil executives who spoke to us, U.S. oil companies were not very happy with this, and it was largely because they weren't willing to take the risk at the speed and scale that the president wanted, and now they could basically find themselves competing against a company backed by their own government." None of them has said publicly that it changes their plans
10. Nothing for Drivers Yet
Asked directly whether gas prices come down, Bergengruen said no. "For American consumers right now, this basically means nothing."
The administration's message and the timetable do not match. "American consumers from this deal are not going to see or feel anything for many, many, many years."
The oil in the deal has not been produced yet. "Again, all of this is a potential oil that is still underground and it's going to take a very long time to really benefit American consumers."
The scale of Venezuela's current output is the number to hold on to. "Currently, Venezuela is producing about as much as North Dakota, and that's an important kind of thing to keep in mind."
Bonus Insights
North American Blue Energy Partners would not discuss the agreement. Mendoza: "A spokesman for North American Blue Energy Partners said the company doesn't comment on commercial matters."
Rodriguez is selling the deal at home as an investment story. "But as for Rodriguez, she is selling this to the public as huge amounts of investments, big number of jobs, and that this is going to be really critical for them to see benefits."
The argument over whether the deal is valid is loudest among Venezuelans. "The debate since this deal has been announced, and it's been really furious in Venezuela and with a lot of the exile community living on the outside is whether this is in any way a valid deal."
What Bergengruen is watching is Venezuelan politics, not the oil price. "Venezuela had these massive earthquakes in June. People are still recovering from that." She said the average Venezuelan has seen no benefit from Maduro's removal and the economic situation has not changed "I think there's going to be a lot of pressure building for political change, and that may really end up hampering the Trump administration's efforts to wrench this through quickly."
Bergengruen's bottom line is that Trump needs Venezuela to be a foreign policy and economic win he can name for the rest of his term, and that he will use the Pentagon, the State Department and a businessman the oil majors avoided to get one, even though the benefits to those companies and to consumers arrive long after he leaves office.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Office of Strategic Capital (The Pentagon office, set up in 2022 to finance supply chains critical to national security, that is taking the government's stake)
North American Blue Energy Partners (Alejandro Betancourt's company, the second largest private oil company in Venezuela, which would develop 17 fields with Pentagon financing)
Exxon (Its chief executive said the company could not invest in Venezuela as things stand, which Bergengruen said frustrated the president)
Truth Social (Where Trump announced the agreement on a Friday night, calling it the biggest oil deal in world history)
U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve (What Trump says the Venezuelan oil will refill, on a timetable Bergengruen said runs past the end of his term)
Books & Resources Mentioned
Inside Trump's Plan to Give the Pentagon a Stake in Venezuela's Oil Riches (Bergengruen's reporting with Collin Eaton, Drew FitzGerald and Juan Forero, which this episode walks through)
Oil Companies Aren't Sold on Venezuela (Earlier episode the show points listeners to, on why the American majors held back)
Was Maduro's Capture About Oil? (Earlier episode on the removal that made this deal possible)
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