Trump officials eye private security contractors to safeguard oil assets in Venezuela

Trump officials eye private security contractors to safeguard oil assets in Venezuela

The Trump administration is preparing to use private military contractors to protect oil and energy assets in Venezuela rather than deploying US troops, according to two sources familiar with the plans, setting up a potential boon for security firms with experience in the region and ties to the administration.

While President Trump hasn’t ruled out a possible US military presence in Venezuela, sources close to the president say he’s wary of putting American boots on the ground for an extended period of time. That raises a potential problem for the White House following the US capture of Venezuela’s former President Nicolás Maduro.

As it lobbies major oil companies to reinvest in Venezuela’s ailing oil industry, the administration must convince them it can provide the kind of security they will need to operate safely there — not just for months but years.

Restarting the country’s oil production will be key to Trump’s vision for a post-Maduro Venezuela. But doing so will require a clear plan on how to protect valuable oil assets from cartels of other hostile actors amid a power vacuum Trump created in seizing Maduro. Discussions about how to secure those assets remain in the early stages, sources said. Still, multiple private security companies are already jockeying to get involved in the US presence in Venezuela, according to a person familiar with the matter. Interest is high given the potential payday; during the Iraq War, the US spent some $138 billionon private security, logistics and reconstruction contractors.

Last week, the Department of Defense put out a Request for Information to contractors about their ability to support possible US military operations in Venezuela, the person said. Contractors are also in touch with the State Department’s overseas building operations office to cite interest in providing security if and when the US embassy in Venezuela re-opens.
The Pentagon declined to comment for this story.

It remains to be seen which companies will ultimately be tapped for those security jobs, but one source familiar with the situation noted that several are already well-positioned to do so. Among them, the source said, is Grey Bull Rescue Foundation, a group of US special forces veterans who helped opposition leader and Nobel laureate María Corina Machado secretly escape Venezuela last year. “I think it’s a little premature, but people are talking about it,” Bryan Stern, the founder of Grey Bull, said of potential private military contractor work in Venezuela. Stern, who led the operation to covertly extract Machado, said Grey Bull has been operating in the region “for months.”

“Foreign investment comes back, and when it does, it brings a bunch of Navy SEAL dudes and Green Beret dudes and ninjas to keep them alive and safe,” Stern said. “It’ll look a lot like that in Venezuela.”
Turning to private contractors is certain to invite scrutiny. Over the past two decades, the US has relied heavily at times on private contractors, especially during the height of the Iraq War. But they were marred in controversy, from killing Iraqi civilians to allegations of war profiteering. One source suggested that Erik Prince, the former Blackwater founder and controversial Trump ally, could also be tapped for help. Prince’s Blackwater played an outsized role in Iraq after the 2003 US invasion, providing security, logistics and support for oil infrastructure. But the firm came under intense scrutiny following the 2007 deadly shooting of Iraqi civilians.

In response to CNN’s request for comment about his potential involvement in the administration’s plans for Venezueuala, Prince said, “No comment to CNN. Ever.”

Since Maduro’s capture, the Trump administration has been met with some resistance from Big Oil about investing in Venezuela again. ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods told Trump in a White House meeting last week that the Venezuelan market is “uninvestable” in its current state. Trump has since said that he’s now “inclined” to keep Exxon out of Venezuela because of Woods’ comment.

Analysts said they expected the leading oil companies to proceed with caution until the administration can address the security challenges they’re expected to face while operating in the country with the remnants of Maduro’s regime still in charge.
Bob McNally, the president of Rapidan Energy, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm, said US oil companies will be questioning if their personnel can work safely there. And even if they can now, will that still be the case after Trump leaves office in three years?
“If we send teams there, can we go to the countryside or will we be killed?” McNally continued. “Is it even a stable enough country that we can go in there and just start looking around and talking to folks?”Private military contractors have long been expected to play a significant role in securing American interests in Venezuela once Maduro was removed from power.

One of the sources familiar with the administration’s plans told CNN in August, before military operations began in the Caribbean around Venezuela, that contractors would likely be called upon to provide security if Maduro was ultimately ousted — particularly during the transition period to a new government, which is expected to take some time.

“If there were a change, then the United States would be involved in making sure that our assets are protected and that we somehow protect democracy there too,” the source said, noting private contractors would likely help in that capacity. “We have a lot of assets there, especially Chevron has a lot of assets over there that are worth billions of dollars.”

“American presence doesn’t necessarily mean American military presence but some kind of American presence with security,” the source added.

History of using private contractors

The Trump administration has recently used private military contractors to provide on the ground security as part of its foreign policy endeavors — with mixed results. In Gaza last year, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which received US support, was widely criticized by humanitarian groups for using armed personnel from a US security firm at its food distribution site.

In Venezuela, the short-term goal appears to be a bit different. While Trump has publicly said the US will “seize” the oil there, multiple sources have told CNN the true intention is to suppress the flow of illicit oil to American adversaries like Russia, China, Iran and Cuba.

Part of the plan requires ensuring the oil that is currently stored in Venezuela stays in Venezuela, sources said, which would be part of the security mission for private contractors if American companies ever reenter the country amid the ongoing political transition.

Unlike other cases when private military contractors have been used in conjunction with US forces, the firms in Venezuela would be largely focused on protecting the oil infrastructure and not securing the country or protecting the current government.

Major oil companies already make extensive use of private security forces around the world to protect things like wells and pipelines in remote places, but analysts cautioned that the situation in Venezuela could be particularly volatile, and energy assets could become targets for retaliation if there’s a crackdown on criminal groups trafficking drugs in the region.

Venezuela has long had a Level 4 travel advisory from the State Department, meaning, “Do Not Travel” there, because of “severe risks to Americans, including wrongful detention, torture in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, and poor health infrastructure,” according to a recent State Department post on X. The most recent advisory, posted after a State Department delegation visited the country last weekend, also urged Americans there to leave “immediately” and be wary of armed militias in the streets.

The militias, known as colectivos, are just one of the possible threats to US oil company personnel and energy assets in the country, said Theodore Kahn, the lead analyst on Venezuela for the Control Risks consultancy. FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and ELN (National Liberation Army) factions are also present in Venezuela, and their main interest would be in maintaining their drug-trafficking routes, Kahn said.

If there’s increased pressure on those groups and their activities from either US military forces or the new Venezuelan government, they could target US oil infrastructure in retaliation, Kahn said.

“I think we’d be looking at a pretty volatile situation, and US energy assets would be a target,” he said, adding that Chevron, the one major US oil company actively pumping in Venezuela, has an oil field in western Venezuela, where the ELN has a significant presence.

“Part of this hesitancy [from oil companies] around security is precisely, can we trust the Venezuelan security forces?” Kahn said. “Well, I don’t think too many oil companies are going to feel too secure with the idea that the Venezuelan military is going to be carrying on to protect and safeguard their operations, given the current dynamics.”

Evan Ellis, a research professor of Latin American studies at the US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, said he’s spoken to Chinese companies that have been doing business in Venezuela, describing it as “a nightmare” for them due to security concerns.

“If you start bringing a certain amount of order, if you started bringing in US oil players and things like that, you may upset some of the apple cart of the of the corrupt,” Ellis said. “So yes, you might need private security companies.”

By CNN