By Marianna Parraga, Mircely Guanipa and Mariela Nava
HOUSTON/MARACAIBO, Venezuela, Oct 30 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump called it the biggest oil deal in history: 17 Venezuelan oilfields holding some 64 billion barrels of reserves, handed to a single company.
Delivering on it falls to North American Blue Energy Partners, a little-known firm led by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, who was until recently a target of US money-laundering investigations involving funds embezzled from the state-owned oil company PDVSA. The company's deal with Washington grants the US a 35%-stake in its corporate parent and the right to buy 20% of output at production cost.
NABEP says it will lift oil output fourfold to more than 1 million barrels per day (bpd), up from about 224,000 bpd in mid-October.
That will be far harder than Trump and NABEP have suggested, according to Reuters interviews with 15 oil workers, contractors, financiers and industry experts. Eight of them — seven oilfield workers and contractors and one business associate familiar with NABEP operations — said the company was carrying debt to contractors and struggling to hire staff and repair infrastructure.
Even the headline reserves figures Trump cites may overstate the prize.
Only about 10 billion barrels can realistically be developed within the 25-year term Venezuelan law allows for oil projects, Francisco Monaldi, director of the Latin America Energy Program at Rice University's Baker Institute, told Reuters. "And only if everything aligns," he said.
Terry Wade, a spokesperson for NABEP, told Reuters the company was on track. "We're at the leading edge of a Venezuelan oil industry renaissance," he said.
NABEP faces a steep set of challenges, the industry players said. The company must secure capital; compete for rigs, equipment and power plants; execute a long list of repairs to dilapidated infrastructure; and rapidly increase its workforce in a country that has seen a decades-long exodus of trained staff.
Former Venezuelan energy minister Humberto Calderon Berti told a conference in September he was convinced "the agreement will not last long," citing the company's lack of technical qualifications and short track record.
Once owned by an asphalt tycoon, NABEP entered Venezuela's energy sector in 2024 with three projects under contracts with Nicolas Maduro, the former president who was ousted by US military forces in January. It took operational control of 14 more fields on October 1 under agreements with the Venezuelan government that it said included production targets.
The company has relied on local contractors to hire staff, procure equipment and make routine operating decisions, according to the oilfield workers and contractors and the business associate.
Three of the workers and the associate said NABEP owes money to some of those business partners. Reuters could not determine the amount of debt.
Wade said NABEP's supplier base is expanding while it migrates to a new payment system. "All invoices are being paid, and any disruption will be addressed," he said.
The company, which is not publicly traded, says it has invested $1 billion of its own capital since 2024 and would increase the amount it re-invests each year by as much as 50% to meet its targets. NABEP said it has no current plans to take on additional debt or sell equity stakes. "Our business plan doesn't contemplate raising outside funding," Wade said.
Venezuela's oil ministry and state-owned PDVSA did not reply to requests for comment. Interim President Delcy Rodriguez has defended the pact.
PDVSA's Vice President Jovanny Martinez told state media this week that NABEP could meet its 1 million bpd target in six to seven years. But about 80% of roughly 4,000 inactive wells in the Maracaibo basin, one of the regions where the company operates, need repair.
The country's overall crude output has remained stagnant in recent months at about 1.2 million bpd, according to official figures.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who returned to Venezuela this week, told reporters in Caracas on Thursday that she had not seen the NABEP contract, but that it fell short on transparency. "Of course we want investment. The issue is how and with whom," she said.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said: "Production is growing and this deal is already delivering results for the American people."
NABEP says it employs about 5,000 people directly and more than 10,000 contractors. The company has hired administrative employees from PDVSA in recent weeks, three people with knowledge of its recruiting said. It is rushing to hire technical staff and field workers needed to expand, they added.
BIG TARGETS, NEW RIGS
Oil output is expected to rise at Junin Sur in the Orinoco Belt, where NABEP's expansion is mainly focused. But gains at the highly polluted, aging Maracaibo basin will likely take longer. At Petrozamora, three workers described idle heavy machinery, damaged facilities, oil leaks and delayed payments from NABEP to suppliers.
Wade said Petrozamora was implementing an improvement plan, and NABEP had installed new equipment on Lake Maracaibo.
Betancourt, on a tour in Petrozamora last week, said output there had reached 115,000 bpd, up from 98,000 in September, according to PDVSA internal data. He offered no long-term targets.
Satellite analysis from a Venezuela-focused intelligence firm in early October found no drilling infrastructure at seven of the 17 fields. Junin Sur had one rig, and drilling equipment from a previous operator remained at Lake Maracaibo.
NABEP says it has lined up 60 rigs and 70 pieces of heavy machinery to arrive in batches. Drone footage and photos it provided from the second half of October showed rigs and a well cluster in Junin Sur, and a drilling barge in Lake Maracaibo. The company said three drilling rigs were working at Orinoco and three more would be added soon.
It said it also has 13 workover rigs, which are used to repair and prepare existing wells, and is waiting for 15 more refurbished and fully inspected rigs.
Six of NABEP's new areas are virgin territory, far from roads or oil infrastructure, adding to the challenge of boosting production.
FUNDING AND REPUTATION HURDLES
NABEP will need strong partners and massive funding, a banker involved in energy project financing and debt restructuring in Venezuela said.
The company says it plans to develop the 17 large oilfields simultaneously. Such a task would be a challenge even for oil majors such as Chevron, ExxonMobil or ConocoPhillips, five industry experts told Reuters.
Three people said NABEP has struggled to open bank accounts after US and European investigations into Betancourt's past dealings with the Venezuelan government.
Betancourt has been investigated in the US in connection with an alleged plan that involved embezzling over $1 billion from Venezuela's PDVSA. That investigation was paused this year. The businessman has also been under investigation in Switzerland for money-laundering.
He has never been charged with a crime in any jurisdiction.
Wade said the company has access to foreign banks, without elaborating.
NABEP may also find a challenge in partnering with Washington. When the first crude cargo under the deal reached Texas on Tuesday, Trump called the 1 million barrels a "gift." A White House official said the government had received it at no cost.
NABEP initially said the oil was delivered under Washington's right to buy a portion of the company's production at cost. It later said it gave the shipment to the US at no cost to US taxpayer "to recognize the historic nature of the agreement."
It was a telling start: NABEP may be pumping the oil, but Washington seems to be calling the shots.
"To the victor belongs the spoils, right?" Trump said at the port of Corpus Christi on his way to an election rally.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga in Houston, Mircely Guanipa in Maracay and Mariela Nava in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago in Caracas and Jarrett Renshaw in Washington. Editing by Nathan Crooks and Suzanne Goldenberg)
