News, Rumors and Opinions Thursday 9-3-2026
TNT:
Tishwash: US Energy Secretary Arrives in Venezuela to Finalize Oil Deal Giving Washington Greater Control
Chris Wright says new investment agreements could more than double Venezuela’s oil production as Washington seeks to expand its influence over the country’s vast reserves
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright arrived in Venezuela on Tuesday to finalize a major oil agreement that would give Washington effective control over a significant share of the country’s petroleum production, following approval by Venezuela’s government-dominated National Assembly.
US President Donald Trump announced the agreement last week, saying it would give the United States majority control of operations involving 17 oil fields containing about 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.
Wright said upon his arrival that “several deals” would be announced on Wednesday and predicted that the agreements would lead to more than a doubling of Venezuela’s oil production over the next few years.
“These investment deals in Venezuela are to bring peace, opportunity and prosperity to the people of Venezuela and to the people of the United States,” Wright told reporters.
US oil giant Chevron is also expected to announce a major expansion of its operations in Venezuela on Wednesday.
Washington has defended the agreements as a way to increase Venezuelan oil production, potentially lower energy prices for US consumers and reduce Russian and Chinese influence in a country located close to the United States.
The deal comes after Washington dramatically expanded its influence over Caracas following the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.
Washington Seeks Control of Oil Assets
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that a private company was working with the US government to “normalize the Venezuelan economy.”
“Essentially, this is now an agreement with the US government,” Rubio said in a Spanish-language interview with Venezuelan journalist Sergio Novelli.
He said the US Defense Department would be involved through a special account that would allow Washington to take possession of a percentage of the assets involved in the agreement.
Rubio said the arrangement would enable the company to increase production and attract the private investment required to restore Venezuela’s oil fields. He added that the “vast majority” of the 17 fields had previously been in the hands of Chinese and Russian companies.
The agreement would grant the United States preferential access to oil produced from the 17 fields, including facilities previously operated by Russian and Chinese companies.
In Caracas, some opposition lawmakers abstained from the National Assembly’s show-of-hands vote, arguing that they should first be allowed to examine the agreement’s written terms.
“We need and are obliged to know what is written in the fine print,” opposition lawmaker Luis Emilio Rondon said.
National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez defended the agreement, arguing that Venezuelans would benefit from increased oil production and investment.
“Who benefits from this oil if it stays underground?” Rodriguez said.
Venezuela’s Defense Minister Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez also backed the deal, describing it as an agreement aimed at bringing “prosperity and well-being” to the country.
“Turning a political difference into an economic cooperation agreement is simply a decision to choose peace; it is not subordination,” he said.
US Government to Take 35% Stake
A major component of the agreement involves North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), Venezuela’s second-largest private oil company, run by businessman Alejandro Betancourt.
The US government is set to take a 35 percent stake in NABEP, while Washington will receive the right to purchase 20 percent of the oil produced by the company at production cost, according to the White House.
US citizens will hold a majority of the company’s board seats, giving Washington effective control, while the US government will have veto power over board appointments.
Betancourt has previously faced accusations of involvement in a corruption scheme involving Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA.
A US official nevertheless described him as a “proven operator,” acknowledging that geopolitical agreements can sometimes require dealing with “imperfect” partners.
US officials say American involvement will help combat corruption in Venezuela’s deteriorating oil industry and prevent Caracas from diverting large quantities of oil to its ally Cuba.
The agreement also gives Washington a direct economic stake in restoring Venezuela’s oil production, while reducing the role previously played by Moscow and Beijing in the country’s energy sector.
For the Trump administration, increased Venezuelan production could also have a political dimension, with lower oil prices a key priority ahead of crucial US midterm elections in November, when Republicans are seeking to retain control of Congress. link
Courtesy of Dinar Guru: https://www.dinarguru.com/
Frank26 We need to see a government formed. If we can get that government formed, that's to me the next thing we're looking for. Then, God willing, we'll see the CBI talk. That's the sequence of events that we're looking for...
Jeff Question: "What's the difference between a REER and a reinstatement?" Jeff: The REER is the real effective exchange rate. That's what the value of the exchange rate is. The reinstatement is them taking it from where it devalued and reactivating it, reinstating it.
Reset Intelligence This week the world's 20 largest economies agreed on the record that a currency priced below its fundamentals is not a fact of nature. It is a fault produced by choices, harmful to everyone at the table and assigned to the IMF and the OECD to watch...When Treasury told Japan the yen sits below its fundamentals the remedy on the table was not a devaluation it was up. That is what restoring equilibrium means...The dinar has spent...decades priced by politics, war, sanctioned scaffolding, by books nobody could verify, by a shadow economy that needed the number low. Every piece of that pricing is being dismantled in public and you have watched it happen...What was missing was the rule that says the gap itself is the problem. As of this week that rule sits on the G20's own letterhead. The question is no longer whether anyone powerful wants a level playing field...The question is what happens to the most deliberately underpriced currency on the field when the whistle finally blows.
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