Straits Times and Washington Examiner reporting describes a U.S. oil agreement with Venezuela that grants decades-long access to roughly one-fifth of the country's crude reserves through NABEP, a company linked to Alejandro Betancourt. The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital holds a 35% stake in NABEP, while the State Department obtains preferential purchase rights. The arrangement followed Betancourt’s reported assistance in the January 3 removal of Nicolas Maduro, who was flown to New York to face drug-trafficking charges.