A 25-year US–Venezuela oil pact granting access to 65 billion barrels of recoverable crude across 17 fields, mainly in the Orinoco Belt and around Lake Maracaibo, targets more than 1.5 million barrels per day and a projected US 55% operating stake. Negotiated in secret without competitive bidding and with the US empowered to choose operators, the deal faces legal uncertainty under Venezuela’s Hydrocarbons Law and criticism over “incredibly low” projected taxes and weak institutional safeguards. Deliverability is also in doubt, with extra-heavy crude, ageing Lake Maracaibo infrastructure and an assumed 20% recovery factor yet to be achieved.

Governments are moving from pure lenders to direct “deal participants” in critical minerals, with the US “Project Vault” creating a $12 billion strategic stockpile and helping drive roughly 160 minerals-related deals worth about $40 billion since January 2025. Washington is now combining EXIM, DFC and DOE funding with direct equity, price floors and long-term offtake and stockpiling agreements, while tightening defence sourcing rules to penalise use of restricted suppliers. For project developers, early binding offtake is becoming central to bankability, but Seidl Inglesby warns processing and manufacturing capacity still take years to build.

Green Party leaders are calling for new data centres to lose their automatic “critical infrastructure” status and face stricter planning tests, citing risks to local electricity networks and potable water supplies. The move targets large hyperscale facilities with multi‑MW continuous loads and high cooling water demand, which can compete with housing and industrial users on constrained grids. For civil and infrastructure engineers, this signals potential for tougher connection agreements, more detailed impact assessments on water and power, and possible delays to new server-farm projects.