Trump’s state capitalism comes to the oil industry with his unprecedented Venezuela deal

The Pentagon has received a big ownership stake in an obscure private oil company that will control crude reserves larger than ExxonMobil's global portfolio if President Donald Trump's Venezuela deal is successful. The deal comes eight months after Washington ousted former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a military raid and co-opted the remaining regime led by interim President Delcy Rodríguez. The Rodríguez government has granted North American Blue Energy Partners, headquartered in Barbados, concessions to 17 oilfields in Venezuela for a century. NABEP's CEO, Alejandro Betancourt, is a controversial figure who has faced investigations into his past ventures. NABEP has in turn granted the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital a 35% equity stake at no cost to the U.S. taxpayer, according to deal details released by the White House this week. The deal gives the U.S. majority control over 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's proven crude reserves, the White House said. This is about 20% of the 303 billion barrels the country is thought to possess.If the White House figures are accurate, NABEP would be the second-largest oil company measured by proved reserves in the world behind...