- ENERGÍA
The White House published the deal's fact sheet: a veto over every board appointment, a U.S. majority on it, and U.S. law and courts.
20% de la producción a costo · derecho de tanteo sobre el 80% restante · 100 años sobre 17 campos con unos 65.000 millones de barriles probados
affects anyone projecting Venezuelan fiscal revenue at market prices on the barrel delivered at cost
- BANCA
The head of Colombia's development bank said the first pilots start within one or two weeks: a Venezuelan bank issues the letter of credit and Bancoldex confirms it.
Comercio bilateral de US$1.170 millones en 2025 · cerca de 1.200 empresas colombianas exportan a Venezuela · línea abierta de US$100 millones
affects the Venezuelan importer who pays upfront today and the Colombian exporter carrying the whole risk
- JUSTICIA
Parliament unanimously passed the reform expanding the committee that nominates justices, four days after the Academy of Political Sciences called it unconstitutional.
El comité pasa de 21 a 23 integrantes · la sociedad civil sube de 10 a 12 · los 11 diputados no se tocan
affects anyone with a case, a contract or an asset that ends up decided in a Venezuelan court
The document Washington published does not divide up a business: it divides up decisions. It is now in writing who vetoes each board appointment, who buys 20% of output at production cost and who holds first call on the remaining 80%, and what Venezuela keeps is ownership of the subsoil without the key to the till. That same text lists reforms to Venezuela's judiciary among the results of the process the United States sponsors and announces further meetings in September; Parliament passed one of them yesterday, with the constitutional objection published four days earlier. By another route something smaller and nearer is moving: if a Venezuelan bank issues letters of credit that another country confirms, the US$1.170 billion Colombia and Venezuela traded in 2025 changes mechanics without waiting for the first barrel.
The deal places roughly 65 billion barrels under U.S. first call; U.S. proven reserves on its own territory are about 46 billion.
The comparison is the document's own: the resource Washington reaches is about one and a half times what lies under its soil. What the figure does not say is how much of it gets touched. At the one million barrel a day target the company declares, those 65 billion take some one hundred and seventy-eight years to exhaust, and the program's twenty-five years reach around a seventh. The rest is committed, not extracted. For Venezuela's treasury the difference is the whole point: revenue is collected on what is produced, not on what is signed.
The official fact sheet sets a board veto, 20% of output at cost and right of first refusal on the other 80%. On the 35% stake there are three official versions that do not say the same thing.
The official fact sheet, dated August 31, says the deal was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. It grants North American Blue Energy Partners 100-year concessions over seventeen fields holding roughly 65 billion barrels of proven reserves. The U.S. government holds a veto over the appointment of any board member, a majority of that board must be U.S. citizens, and the agreement is governed by U.S. law before U.S. courts.
Casa Blanca — ficha oficial del acuerdo ↗20% de la producción a costo · tanteo sobre el 80% restante · 100 años sobre 17 campos · unos 65.000 millones de barriles probados · US$100.000M de inversión y US$200.000M en tributos a 25 añosThe State Department buys a guaranteed 20% at production cost and holds right of first refusal on the remaining 80%: first call therefore covers the whole. On the 35% three formulations coexist. The company's release speaks of rights to a stake. The White House fact sheet says an equity stake granted to the Department of War's Office of Strategic Capital. And the Pentagon's press secretary said on August 29 that the office does not take equity in private companies. The statute that created it grants loans and guarantees.
The U.S. buyer, who sets the price of part of the output and the queue for the rest.
Anyone who computed Venezuelan fiscal revenue at market prices on the barrel delivered at cost, and the third party who now buys later.
INDICADORwhich instrument shows up in the corporate record: shares, warrants or a promise of a stake, and which U.S. body appears as holder · la autoridad de préstamo y garantía de esa oficina expira el 1 de octubre de 2028, y el proceso patrocinado por Estados Unidos tiene nuevas reuniones anunciadas para septiembre de 2026
The head of Bancoldex said on September 1 that the operation is already structured with Venezuelan banks and that the first pilots start within one or two weeks.
Jose Alberto Garzon, head of Bancoldex, Colombia's state business development bank, said in an interview published on September 1 that the operation is already structured with several Venezuelan financial institutions. The scheme has the Venezuelan bank issue the letter of credit in favor of the Colombian exporter and Bancoldex confirm it, paying once the export is documented. He named Banco Nacional de Credito, Provincial and Exterior as current counterparties, and Banesco and Mercantil as next steps.
Bancóldex — José Alberto Garzón, vía Valora Analitik ↗Comercio bilateral de US$1.170 millones en 2025 · cerca de 1.200 empresas colombianas exportan a Venezuela · línea de US$100 millones · US$41 millones disponibles en la línea en dólaresToday the Colombian exporter collects upfront or carries the buyer's full risk, because no banking instrument covers it. A confirmed letter of credit shifts that risk from the Venezuelan importer to the confirming bank, and with it the price of trade credit. Bilateral trade was US$1.170 billion in 2025 and roughly 1,200 Colombian firms sell into Venezuela. The line opened in April is US$100 million, with a peso tranche for working capital and US$50 million to finance exports and imports.
The Venezuelan importer with a track record, who stops paying upfront, and the mid-sized Colombian exporter who could not carry that risk.
Whoever charges to route payment through a third country, which is how the missing banking instrument has been solved so far.
INDICADORwhether the first letter of credit is issued and which Venezuelan bank issues it · el plazo que dio el propio presidente de Bancóldex es de una a dos semanas desde el 1 de septiembre, es decir antes del 15 de septiembre
Parliament passed on September 1 the reform taking the committee that nominates justices from 21 to 23 members. Civil society rises from 10 to 12 and the 11 deputies are untouched.
The National Assembly unanimously passed, in an extraordinary session on September 1, the partial reform of the Supreme Court law agreed at the dialogue table that closed its first round on August 12. Its own note specifies the committee rises to 23 members, that only civil society seats increase, from 10 to 12, and that the number of deputies was left unchanged. In the same session Parliament approved an agreement backing the energy pact with the United States.
Asamblea Nacional — nota de la sesión del 1-sep ↗El comité pasa de 21 a 23 integrantes · sociedad civil de 10 a 12 · 11 diputados sin cambio · pronunciamiento de la Academia el 31-ago · primera discusión el 27-agoThe eleven parliamentarians who remain on the committee take part in selecting the twelve civil society representatives, so the majority the reform creates is appointed by the side that majority was meant to balance. The Academy of Political and Social Sciences, a corporation created by law, published on August 31 a statement on the unconstitutionality of that composition: article 270 of the Constitution assigns the committee to representatives of society's sectors, and a deputy is a public official.
Whoever needs the court's renewal to advance on a calendar, because the procedure is unblocked and the process has fresh meetings in September.
The creditor, contractor or investor whose case lands in a Venezuelan court, watching the filter for those judges decided by the very body that appoints them.
INDICADORwhether the committee is actually seated with named members, and by what procedure the twelve civil society seats are filled · el comité reestructurado el 21 de agosto seguía sin un solo integrante designado; el proceso de diálogo tiene nuevas reuniones anunciadas para septiembre
HOW OUR CALLS ARE DOING
indicators we issued in earlier editionsOn August 31 we set as indicator whether the deal would reach the National Assembly under article 150 of the Constitution, which requires parliamentary approval to contract with foreign states.
On September 1 Parliament approved an agreement backing the energy pact, tabled by deputy Miguel Angel Perez Abad. A backing agreement is a chamber pronouncement on a fact; article 150 approval is the authorization of a public interest contract, with the text before the deputies. The September 1 act is the former.