Democratic senators are raising questions about the legality and prudence of the Pentagon's plan to acquire a stake in a Venezuelan oil company, laying the groundwork for potential investigations ahead.

Four senior Senate Democrats said in a letter to senior Trump administration officials that the Pentagon's proposed acquisition of a stake in North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), Venezuela's second-largest oil producer, rests on weak legal footing and could undermine the country's path toward democratic transition.

The United States unveiled the plan in early September under which the Pentagon would obtain a 35% passive equity stake in NABEP. The company would gain control of 17 oil blocks said to hold approximately 65 billion barrels of oil reserves. Venezuela claims proven oil reserves of 300 billion barrels, the largest in the world. As part of the arrangement, the State Department would hold a preferential right to purchase 20% of the field's output at cost.

Since Nicolas Maduro's departure in January, Trump has pushed for the U.S. oil industry to revive Venezuelan oil fields. He has called the NABEP deal "the biggest oil deal in world history."

The lawmakers, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, are demanding that the Trump administration submit the agreement text and all its terms before the deal is finalized.

The senators are also seeking clarification on the legal basis for the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital to acquire equity in a foreign oil company, and asking how the State Department would pay for crude oil purchased from the producer.

The Trump administration says the deal would lower fuel costs for Americans and that the crude would be used to replenish the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is at its lowest level since 1982.

In their letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the senators wrote: "This proposed agreement is unlikely to lower America's high energy costs and risks undermining the Venezuelan people's progress in moving beyond dictatorship and advancing transition."

State Department Assistant Secretary for Global Public Affairs Dylan Johnson said Democratic senators knew weeks ago that administration officials planned to brief them and provide documents on Thursday, but the senators canceled the meeting scheduled for Thursday morning. Johnson called it "pure grandstanding."

Three other lawmakers also signed the letter: Senate Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat Jack Reed of Rhode Island, Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking Democrat Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee ranking Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. House Democrats have sent a similar letter to the administration.

Lawmakers typically send letters to agencies, companies or relevant parties requesting information as a precursor to congressional investigations. But any follow-up investigation would most likely begin after the November midterm elections and depend on Democratic election results. Democrats are currently in the minority, and no committee chairs are Democrats, leaving them without the power to hold public hearings or issue subpoenas.

The senators asked Rubio, Hegseth and Wright in the letter to explain the administration's due diligence process and disclose whether the Trump family or its donors would benefit from the deal.

The lawmakers also questioned whether the Venezuelan oil producer, led by businessman Alejandro Betancourt, can quickly ramp up production to the scale suggested by the Trump administration. NABEP has moved quickly, preparing 60 drilling rigs, 30 steam boilers for heavy oil transport and dozens of pieces of heavy equipment. The company hopes to more than double crude output to 500,000 barrels per day by late 2028.

The lawmakers said: "It is puzzling why the American public should support this deal, which deeply ties the United States to a relatively unknown foreign oil company. The company lacks the capacity and credibility to develop an oil field of this scale, and its management faces international criminal investigations."

The lawmakers noted that although Betancourt has not been criminally charged, he "has been investigated multiple times for money laundering-related matters in Spain, Switzerland and the United States." Rubio said Betancourt is not under any ongoing investigation in the United States.

Media reports say the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital would complete its investment in NABEP through low-cost warrants, allowing the United States to obtain equity in the company without committing large amounts of capital.

Democrats argue that the statute establishing the Pentagon office does not grant it authority to acquire equity in a private oil company, and that the deal exceeds the agency's statutory mandate. The office's authority was intended for issuing loans and providing guarantees in service of U.S. national security interests.

Many people involved in Venezuela's democratic process have criticized the deal. They worry it would tie the United States to the current Venezuelan government led by Delcy Rodriguez, who was vice president under Maduro.

The lawmakers wrote in the letter that the plan "would only create new corruption risks for both the United States and Venezuela, and appears to reward the kind of self-dealing that destroyed Venezuela's oil industry in the first place. Over the long term, such a move would damage America's credibility in Venezuela and across Latin America."