Caracas (AFP) – The United States and Venezuela supported on Wednesday the key role that the oil company NABEP, headed by a controversial Venezuelan businessman linked to Chavismo, will play in the unprecedented energy agreement.
First modification: 09/03/2026 - 10:03
North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), Venezuela's second private oil company, will operate 100-year concessions for 17 crude fields with reserves of 65 billion barrels of oil in Venezuela, according to a White House report.
This is within the framework of the "historic" agreement announced on Friday by the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Alejandro Betancourt, NABEP's main shareholder, enriched himself with opaque businesses during the governments of Hugo Chávez (1999-2013) and Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026).
But why did the authorities choose this company? Who is Betancourt? and What is NABEP?
What the authorities said
The Secretary of Energy of the United States, Chris Wright, and the interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, defended during a meeting on Wednesday in Caracas the designation of this company for being the second private oil producer in the Caribbean country.
NABEP "is a company with scale, technology and a proven track record, and it is Venezuelan," Wright said at a joint news conference with Rodríguez.
"NABEP has demonstrated an extremely successful track record in producing large volumes of oil in Venezuela. That is a trading partner you can trust," Wright added.
Rodríguez stated for his part that Betancourt was "dismissed years ago" from corruption cases for which he was investigated in Venezuela.
"There is no cause in the United States (...) many times a person is judged before in the media than in the courts," Rodríguez stressed.
The agreement
A report released on Monday by the White House explained the complex agreement to indirectly control Venezuelan oil resources.
The report stated that the Rodríguez government granted NABEP "100-year concessions for 17 oil fields with proven reserves of approximately 65 billion barrels."
He added that "at no cost to the American taxpayer, NABEP has granted the US War Department's Office of Strategic Capital a 35% equity stake in its parent company."
In addition, the company will give the United States the right to buy "at production cost" a guaranteed 20% of the extracted oil and will ensure "a stable supply of low-cost oil" for the replenishment of the US oil reserve.
It also gives you the optional right to acquire the remaining 80% of your production.
The report says that the US government has the right to veto the board of directors and that the majority of its members must have US nationality.
NABEP and Betancourt
The company, founded in 2024 and based in Barbados, produces between 150,000 and 180,000 barrels per day, according to specialists.
Only the American Chevron is ahead, with a production between 230,000 and 250,000 b/d.
NABEP is scheduled to pay Venezuela $200 billion in royalties and taxes over the first 25 years.
Alejandro Betancourt, 46 years old and with a low profile, is part of a group of Venezuelan businessmen known as "bolichicos" who became rich during the governments of Chávez and Maduro.
The Venezuelan justice system linked him in 2017 to a corruption plot in the state oil company PDVSA.
According to Transparencia Venezuela, Betancourt signed contracts for 5 billion dollars through his company Derwick Associates in 2009 to import electricity generating plants, when the country began to face an energy crisis, which has worsened over the years.
The government paid a 138% premium for equipment that only produced 20% of the promised megawatts.
In 2025 Betancourt was arrested in the United Kingdom, and Switzerland opened criminal proceedings against him for money laundering.
Media outlets claim that Betancourt returned to Venezuela in June from Miami, Florida.
© 2026 AFP
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