President Donald Trump made an extraordinary announcement this week: Venezuela had gifted the United States 1 million barrels of oil – and it didn’t cost American taxpayers a dime.
Tuesday’s announcement apparently surprised one important party to the deal: the producer of the Venezuelan oil.
North American Blue Energy Partners, the US government’s partner in a major Venezuelan oil investment, initially announced Tuesday that the United States had purchased the 1 million barrels of oil, albeit at a substantially reduced price. After Trump said the oil was free, NABEP changed its statement to echo the president: The oil would arrive at a Texas port at no cost to the US taxpayer.
