How will the US-Venezuelan oil deal work? Alejandro Betancourt, China and Trump’s 65 Billion Barrel Bet | Everything you need to know | Today’s news
Donald Trump’s Venezuela oil deal will demonstrate that the US has a direct stake in the country’s vast raw resources, while changing the arrangements around who controls the revenue generated from them.
The deal includes a new Venezuelan oil venture covering 17 fields with proven reserves of approximately 65 billion barrels. The US government will hold a 35% stake in the company and will also have the right to purchase 20% of its output at a price.
The arrangement gives US buyers access to Venezuelan oil, but without paying a market premium.
The Alejandro Betancourt controversy
One of the most controversial aspects is the involvement of Alejandro Betancourt, a Venezuelan businessman who heads the country’s second largest private oil company – North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), Betancourt has previously accused of participating in a corruption scheme by the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.
Still, the Trump administration defended its role. a US official said Betancourt was a “proven operator”, while acknowledging that geopolitics sometimes involves dealing with “imperfect” characters.
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“I’m not nominating anyone here for sainthood. I’m telling you this is a person who has helped the United States government in the past,” the official added.
Chinese arrangement
The arrangement is also part of a broader US effort to control Venezuela’s economic relations with China and Russia.
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Wednesday that Beijing would have no claim to revenue from Venezuela’s oil production, disrupting Caracas’ existing mechanism for repaying billions of dollars owed to Chinese creditors.
The move appears to be quite serious, as China has become Venezuela’s largest oil buyer and most significant foreign creditor after years of US sanctions. In fact, China’s state-owned banks provided Venezuela with more than $60 billion in oil-backed loans by 2015. However, by 2025, the outstanding debt was believed to have fallen to at least $10 billion.
The agreement therefore serves two purposes for Washington. Firstly, securing access to Venezuelan oil and secondly, reducing Beijing’s economic influence on the country’s energy sector.
For China, the immediate economic impact may be limited as its exposure to Venezuela has already decreased. Oil from the country accounted for just 4% of the country’s total oil imports in 2025. There have been no Venezuelan cargoes coming to China since the Trump administration took control of the assets following the capture of then-President Nicolás Maduro earlier this year.
China’s response so far has been relatively muted. Foreign Ministry spokesman Kuo Jiakun said at a regular briefing in Beijing on Thursday that China’s legitimate rights and interests in Venezuela “must be protected.” “Cooperation between China and Venezuela is protected by international law,” he added. “It does not involve any third party.
Read also | India is looking for a way out for $600 million stuck in sanctions-hit Venezuela
However, the geopolitical significance of the event could be much greater. Analysts say the deal could set a precedent for Washington to use its influence to exclude Chinese interests from strategically important assets in Latin America.
“South America has long been a geopolitical crossroads where the interests of China and the US intersect and sometimes collide,” said Liao Na, founder of energy research firm GL Consulting. “Given the importance both powers attach to Venezuela, friction is almost inevitable whenever their interests overlap.”
In this sense, the Venezuelan oil deal is about more than just oil. It is becoming a test of how far the Trump administration is prepared to go to reassert US economic and geopolitical dominance in the Western Hemisphere.
(With inputs from Reuters and Bloomberg)
