One Million Barrels of Venezuelan Oil Reach Texas Under Deal Giving Washington Production Share and Equity Stake
Key Facts
Two tankers carrying one million barrels of crude produced in Venezuela by North American Blue Energy Partners arrived at the Port of Corpus Christi, Texas, on October 27, 2026, according to a company statement published via PR Newswire. The shipment is the first publicly announced delivery under a deal that gives the U.S. government the right to buy 20% of the company’s output at cost, alongside a 35% equity stake in its parent company. The company said the first shipment cost U.S. taxpayers nothing, while Reuters quoted a White House official as saying the government received the oil “as a gift.” The tankers’ arrival puts the deal’s terms into practice as Venezuelan crude begins moving to U.S. refineries. A White House official told Reuters that the crude would be sold to refineries operated by Exxon Mobil and Citgo.
Details of the first shipment differ from the purchase mechanism the deal provides for the company’s remaining output: the statement sets out the U.S. government’s right to buy 20% of production at cost, with no profit margin, as well as its ownership of 35% of the parent company. NABEP said the first delivery carried no cost for taxpayers, a point the White House official confirmed by describing the oil as having been provided free of charge. This means the company presents the shipment as a delivery at no charge, while the deal allows the government to buy a share of production later at cost. The White House said on September 2 that oil at the same price would begin flowing to the market before year-end, with physical supplies reaching the United States at a later stage. The current shipment arrived before the date those statements set for the start of oil flowing to the market at cost.
NABEP said its total hydrocarbon output across its fields was 223,509 barrels of oil equivalent per day on October 19. It added that its production had risen over the previous two years from about 18,000 barrels per day to more than 200,000 barrels per day, funded by nearly $1 billion in self-financed investment. These figures describe the company’s production expansion before the shipment arrived, while total hydrocarbon output differs from the measure of crude oil alone. The company said it directly employs more than 5,000 people and supports more than 10,000 contract jobs in Venezuela. It also says it has marketing rights to more than 65 billion barrels of proven reserves and is targeting output of more than one million barrels of oil per day in the near term.
The White House presented the deal as part of a broader plan to expand oil production and infrastructure in Venezuela, saying in a fact sheet that NABEP plans to invest up to $100 billion in oil infrastructure. The fact sheet projected royalty and tax payments to the Venezuelan government of about $200 billion over the first 25 years as production expands. But estimates of reserves that can be classified as proven are disputed: Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University, estimated that only between 10 billion and 15 billion barrels may be classified as proven reserves in the near term. Analysts told the Associated Press that estimates of the country’s reserves are “inherently problematic and far from proven,” based on old and inflated data. The dispute puts the company’s reserve estimates against a much lower independent estimate of what can be substantiated in the near term.
NABEP’s chief executive said the shipment reached Texas in “a little more than a week,” compared with Middle Eastern crude, which can take “more than a month” to arrive, according to the company statement. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the Port of Corpus Christi to view one of the tankers, the company said. The Associated Press had reported that Trump and Rubio planned to showcase the Venezuelan oil tanker that would be processed at Texas refineries. The shipment’s arrival coincided with American Petroleum Institute estimates that U.S. crude inventories fell by 2.031 million barrels in the week ended October 23, against expectations for an increase of 800,000 barrels. The decline in the previous week was 4.93 million barrels, pointing to continued draws from crude inventories, but at a slower pace than the week before.
By contrast, gasoline inventories rose by 2.39 million barrels in the week ended October 23, after falling by two million barrels the previous week. Distillate inventories also increased by 380,000 barrels, after declining by 2.6 million barrels in the week ended October 16. On prices, Brent crude closed at $113.88 per barrel on October 27 and then at $116.13 on October 28; these figures alone do not attribute the price move to the shipment’s arrival. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report is due on Wednesday, October 28, at its usual time of 10:30 a.m. Eastern. The report follows the American Petroleum Institute’s estimates and will provide the official weekly reading on U.S. oil and product inventories.