According to English reports citing informed sources, the US government plans to acquire a 35% passive stake in the North American Blue Energy partnership of Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, along with priority purchasing rights at cost for 20% of the company's output.

The Pentagon's Strategic Capital Office intends to complete the investment using a one-cent warrant, allowing the US to obtain equity without a large cash outlay. The company will gain development opportunities in 17 oil fields, corresponding to approximately 65 billion barrels, about one-fifth of Venezuela's proven reserves.

North American Blue Energy has increased its output from about 18,000 barrels per day to nearly 200,000 barrels over the past two years, becoming Venezuela's second-largest private producer after Chevron. The company also stated plans to incur up to $5 billion in debt to push production to a million barrels within five years. The State Department has indicated that the US could acquire about 55% of the combined assets.

A Pentagon spokesperson later clarified that the Strategic Capital Office's statutory authority is limited to capital assistance such as loans, guarantees, or transaction structuring, and does not involve direct equity stakes in private enterprises. The report also noted that the private company structure is intentionally designed to bind the subsequent Venezuelan regime, reducing the probability of direct expropriation by the next government.

Betancourt has faced money laundering investigations in Switzerland, Spain, and the US in recent years, with a temporary arrest warrant issued in Switzerland; US officials reportedly lobbied to resolve the matter non-criminally and lift travel restrictions. He resides in the UK, and his family controls the private oil company. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips remain inactive due to legal, security, and infrastructure risks, with government capital being used to fill the gap left by international oil companies unwilling to engage.

In market mechanics, the seller is the Betancourt system, which holds mining rights and existing production curves, along with the interim regime, while the buyer is the US government, which aims to lock in heavy oil from the Western Hemisphere into cost and equity accounts. The driving force behind this is the refusal of large publicly listed oil companies to invest according to the White House's pace. Funding is directed towards warrants and cost oil, rather than congressional appropriations for purchasing reserves. Beneficiaries include local operators who can monetize political risks and US accounts that receive cost oil; those under pressure include international oil companies that must bid against "government-backed private competitors" and the future Venezuelan treasury locked in by long-term contracts and corporate shells.

Source: Public Information