The Venezuelan oil concession goes to Alejandro Betancourt's firm, under investigation in Europe
The White House on Monday identified the company that will operate seventeen Venezuelan oil fields for a century in partnership with the US government: North American Blue Energy Partners, owned by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, who is under investigation in Switzerland and Spain over his alleged involvement in a scheme to launder funds from the state oil company PDVSA. There is no…
Alejandro Betancourt, a Venezuelan entrepreneur, may soon be the vice-regent of Trump in Venezuela. Betancourt's fortune has skyrocketed in recent months, with the United States government partnering with his company North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), the second-largest private oil company in Venezuela, to regain control of over 65 billion barrels of the country's oil reserves.
Trump praised the unprecedented deal as "the biggest oil deal in history." Betancourt's sudden rise reflects the volatile nature of the US-Venezuela relationship since January, when the United States captured ousted President Nicolás Maduro, who now faces trial in New York on drug charges, which he denies. While the US administration has long viewed Maduro as a corrupt socialist dictator who has ruined Venezuela's oil industry, the Trump administration is now working closely with Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to revitalize the economy.
Betancourt is both admired for his business acumen and despised as a manipulative opportunist. According to a Venezuelan oil sector source, both Delcy Rodríguez and the US government see him as someone who has consistently resolved capital and logistical problems. However, critic Thor Halvorssen describes Betancourt as a "cretin who only appears once per generation."
Known as a "bolichico" in Venezuela, Betancourt, 46 years old, is seen as a political-connected entrepreneur who amassed a fortune after Hugo Chávez's "Bolivarian Revolution" in 1999, even as private companies like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips lost assets through expropriation. Betancourt, who studied at the prestigious Colegio Cumbres in Caracas and later at Suffolk University in Boston, made his fortune in Venezuela's electrical sector.
His company Derwick Associates won government contracts without bidding between 2009 and 2011 to build electric plants during a drought that paralyzed hydroelectric dams supplying power to most of the country. Derwick was accused by corruption watchdog Transparencia Venezuela and a parliamentary commission led by the opposition in 2017 of inflating component prices, with separate analyses revealing overpricing of 138% and 173% on its electric plant contracts.
No investigations led to formal charges, and Derwick denied any wrongdoing, claiming compliance with international prices. Despite ongoing blackouts in Venezuela, some criticize Betancourt's lavish lifestyle in the upscale Country Club neighborhood of Caracas, where lights remained on while the rest of the country suffered.
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