US secures 100-year concessions in Venezuela oil deal: White House

According to Dawn, the White House has detailed an energy pact that hands Washington a majority claim on 65 billion barrels of proven reserves in Venezuela. Under the deal announced on Friday, North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) transferred a 35 per cent interest in its parent firm to the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital, which the White House said cost American taxpayers nothing. The State Department also holds the right to buy 20pc of production at cost.

Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez had earlier described a 25-year agreement, whereas the White House says NABEP has secured 100-year concessions over 17 individual oil fields. Rodriguez entered office in January, following a US military action that removed President Nicolas Maduro. The White House also expects NABEP to remit $200bn in royalties and levies over the initial 25 years, money meant to support rebuilding and social programmes.

The contract falls under US law and American courts, and NABEP's directors must mostly be American citizens, with Washington holding a veto over appointments. The White House said Venezuela could receive as much as $100bn of fresh infrastructure funding, with crude refined at American plants. It also presented the pact as a revival of the Monroe Doctrine, targeting oilfields formerly worked by Russian and Chinese companies. It arrives as the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil route, stays disrupted amid the US-Israeli war on Iran.