Senate Delays Venezuela Oil Deal Briefing as Recess Departure Fuels Fight Over 35% Pentagon Stake
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 2
Senate Delays Venezuela Oil Deal Briefing as Recess Departure Fuels Fight Over 35% Pentagon Stake
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 2
Summary
An Oct. 1 Senate briefing on the Trump administration’s Venezuela oil agreement was pushed to November after the chamber left for fall recess, undercutting Democrats’ demand for immediate answers on the deal.
Emails reviewed by Fox News Digital show a Republican Foreign Relations Committee staffer asked State to reschedule because “the Senate has left town,” though State said the staffer acted for the full committee and accused Democrats of grandstanding.
Four senior Democrats — Jeanne Shaheen, Jack Reed, Martin Heinrich and Elizabeth Warren — are challenging the legality of giving the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital rights to a 35% stake in a major Venezuelan producer through penny warrants.
The agreement also gives the State Department rights to buy 20% of production at cost; the White House says the structure could be worth hundreds of billions of dollars and help refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
NABEP currently produces about 220,000 barrels a day and aims for 500,000 by late 2028, making the dispute a broader test of Trump’s post-Maduro strategy to rebuild Venezuela’s oil sector and expand U.S. influence.