Trump's Venezuela Oil Deal Sets Alarming Precedent for Alberta's Energy Security
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's warnings about using oil and gas as a trade-war weapon against the United States have proven prophetic. The recent deal between Washington and North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP) grants the U.S. rights to 64 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil, with a 35-per-cent Pentagon stake and a U.S. government veto over the board.
The concession is not about immediate oil flows but rather the doctrine behind it. Of 14 newly granted contracts, five were previously operated by Chinese companies, which have had their contractual rights overridden by a U.S.-backed interim government in Caracas.
The deal changes paper rights, not physical flows. China remains Venezuela's largest oil customer, and Beijing's economic leverage cannot be erased by a concession to an American proxy.
This development should concern Albertans most about their own position. In a trade war, Washington has demonstrated a template: indirect expropriation, the seizure of another sovereign nation's resources through a U.S.-backed proxy, not contract-based state investment like China's oil deals in Venezuela.