WASHINGTON.- The Congress of USA informed the Strategic Capital Office of the Pentagon that it does not have the legal authority to acquire shareholdings in private companies, according to the American media Semafor. That office has come under scrutiny this week after President Donald Trump’s administration hired it to take a stake in North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), America’s second-largest oil company. Venezuela.
A source told the outlet that Congress did not approve legislative proposals presented by the Pentagon in recent years, which would have given the aforementioned office the power to acquire such stakes.
Lawmakers asked the Trump Administration to inform Congress about the agreement, he said Semafor. The outlet said the Pentagon and White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump announced on August 28 a “historic agreement” through which NABEP will operate 100-year concessions for 17 crude oil fields with reserves of 65 billion barrels of oil in Venezuela.
The oil company said in a statement on August 31 that “NABEP will exercise operational control of the business, while the US Government is entitled to a 35% stake in the company and preferential access to 20% of its production at cost.”
Defense of the agreement
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the oil agreement with NABEP. He said that the director of the company, Venezuelan Alejandro Betancourt López, a controversial figure linked to Chavismo corruption cases, has no open investigations in the United States.
According to Rubio, the choice of Betancourt López’s company was due to the fact that it is the largest private company in Venezuela in terms of production and now it has made an agreement with the US Government, through the War Department.
He indicated that of the 17 fields that make up the agreement, “the vast majority had been controlled by Chinese or Russian interests and many of them were not even used.”
He also maintained: “Now what we have is a system in which this company will be able to produce more and (make) payments to the Government that will eventually be an elected government.”
