Trump's Venezuela oil gambit faces colonial-era critique as experts doubt viability

Fortune reports a proposed deal would give NABEP, backed by the U.S. Department of Defense, majority control over 17 Venezuelan oilfields and access to more than 65 billion barrels of reserves, with rumored investment north of $100 billion and substantial tax revenue. Analysts describe the plan as colonial-era cronyism and warn real production gains would take years, while major U.S. oil majors remain cautious about expropriation risk; the strategy is unlikely to promptly fill the SPR or lower pump prices and could become a political flashpoint in Washington and Caracas.