U.S.-Venezuela oil deal will rely on North American Blue Energy Partners

The Trump administration's plan to take a stake in tens of billions of barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves will hinge on a private company called North American Blue Energy Partners, the White House announced Monday, offering more details on the agreement.Under the deal, the Venezuelan government granted 100-year concessions to NABEP to drill in 17 oil fields, the White House said in a fact sheet released late Monday. Those oil fields contain about 65 billion barrels, roughly one-fifth of Venezuela's total proven oil reserves.The U.S. Defense Department will be granted a 35% stake in the company, according to the White House. The State Department will then have the right to buy 20% of NABEP's output at the cost of production, and it will have the right of first refusal to buy everything else.Run by Venezuelan executive Alejandro Betancourt, NABEP describes itself as Venezuela's second-largest private oil producer, pumping more than 200,000 barrels of oil per day.In a statement confirming the structure of the deal, NABEP said it is aiming to increase daily production in the near-term to over 1 million barrels. (By comparison, the U.S. consumed about 20.6 million barrels of petroleum ...