EL7.AI
CommoditiesMedium•28 October 2026•
5 min read

Two Tankers Carry 1 Million Barrels of NABEP Venezuelan Oil to Texas

Key Facts

1Two tankers carrying 1 million barrels of Venezuelan crude produced by NABEP arrived in Corpus Christi on October 27, 2026.
2The agreement gives the U.S. government the right to buy 20% of NABEP’s output at cost and a 35% ownership stake in the parent company.
3NABEP’s total hydrocarbon production was 223,509 barrels of oil equivalent per day on October 19, 2026.
4NABEP is targeting production of more than 1 million barrels of oil per day in the near term.

Two tankers carrying 1 million barrels of Venezuelan crude produced by North American Blue Energy Partners, known as NABEP, arrived in Corpus Christi, Texas, on October 27, 2026. The company said in a statement that the cargo marked the first delivery under its agreement with the U.S. government. It added that the first 1 million barrels were delivered “at no cost to the U.S. taxpayer.” The shipment puts Venezuelan crude at the center of the agreement’s implementation, which gives the U.S. government rights to the company’s output and ownership. The statement said the agreement is not limited to buying oil, but also includes a stake in the parent company.

Under the agreement, the U.S. government has the right to buy 20% of NABEP’s output at cost, with no markup, and receives a 35% ownership stake in the parent company. The company said these terms link the state directly to a share of its output and to the entity under which its operations fall. The statement did not say the agreement requires the company to produce crude or export it to U.S. refineries. The first shipment is significant for implementation because it offers an example of an actual oil delivery under the arrangement, while the statement provided no details about the crude’s final destination within the United States. It also did not specify the timing or volume of subsequent shipments.

Chief Executive Alejandro Betancourt said the shipment reached Texas in slightly more than a week. He compared this with crude supplies arriving from the Middle East, saying their arrival “can take more than a month.” The comparison highlights the transit time the company cited for the Venezuelan shipment, without the statement providing details about the tankers’ route or when they were loaded. The volume arrived on two tankers, totaling 1 million barrels, according to the statement. Betancourt did not estimate shipping costs or compare them with oil prices from other regions.

NABEP says its total hydrocarbon production across its fields was 223,509 barrels of oil equivalent per day on October 19, 2026. This figure includes hydrocarbons, not crude oil alone, and therefore differs from the company’s stated target in barrels of oil per day. The company said its output rose over the previous two years from about 18,000 barrels per day to more than 200,000 barrels per day. It attributed the expansion to its own investments, which totaled about $1 billion over the period. These figures provide background on the scale of the activity the company is seeking to expand, while the shipment arriving in Texas is its first announced delivery under the U.S. agreement.

When announcing the agreement on August 31, 2026, the White House said NABEP had secured 100-year concessions in 17 oil fields with nearly 65 billion barrels in proven reserves. The White House outlined a framework for investing up to $100 billion in Venezuela’s oil infrastructure and projected that the company would pay about $200 billion in royalties and taxes during the first 25 years. These figures appeared in the government’s announcement of the agreement, while the shipment statement provided no update on spending or the investment implementation schedule. The announced reserves describe the fields covered by the concessions and are not equivalent to the company’s current output. The single shipment remains a small part of the production scale NABEP is targeting in the near term.

The expansion plans come as an oil sector faces a sharp decline in production over the previous decade. Venezuela’s crude output was 742,000 barrels per day in 2023, a cumulative decline of 70% from 2013 levels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The agency said crude exports rose from 263,000 barrels per day in 2021 to 442,000 in 2022, then to an estimated 621,000 barrels per day in 2023. It said Venezuelan heavy crude is suitable for U.S. refineries, particularly those on the Gulf Coast. This background provides context for the shipment’s arrival in Texas, but does not identify who will buy the current cargo or how it will be distributed.

NABEP says it is targeting production of more than 1 million barrels of oil per day in the near term and is reinvesting hundreds of millions of dollars monthly to support higher output. That target is far above the total production of 223,509 barrels of oil equivalent per day the company reported on October 19, with the two figures using different units of measurement. Meanwhile, the Associated Press quoted analysts as saying reviving Venezuela’s production could take years and that the agreement faces political risks that could lead future administrations in Venezuela or the United States to challenge it. NABEP said it directly employs more than 5,000 people and supports more than 10,000 contract jobs across Venezuela. OPEC’s Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee is scheduled to meet on November 29, 2026, while the organization said the committee would continue to monitor market conditions.