Venezuela’s oil industry needs foreign capital, technology and competent management. Few would dispute that. After years of mismanagement, corruption, sanctions and economic collapse, restoring production could generate jobs, government revenue and the resources needed to rebuild a devastated country. The difficulty is not the investment. It is the political bargain accompanying it. The United States has secured majority control of more than 65 billion barrels of Venezuela’s proven reserves through an arrangement centred on North American Blue Energy Partners, which has received concessions covering 17 oilfields. The proposed investment could approach $100 billion.

Washington says the arrangement is part of a broader plan of stabilisation, reconstruction and eventual democratic transition. On paper, this could be transformative. Venezuela currently produces only a fraction of the oil it once did. If American capital and expertise can restore output, the country could finally convert its extraordinary natural wealth into productive investment rather than political patronage. But Venezuela’s people did not elect the government negotiating this arrangement. Nicolás Maduro was removed by the United States in January.........

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