Who is Alejandro Betancourt, colourful oil baron behind US-Venezuela oil deal?
Summary
President Donald Trump supports a major deal giving the US control over 17 Venezuelan oil fields, managed by North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep), a company linked to Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt López. Betancourt has a history of working with the Venezuelan government and has faced investigations in multiple countries, though he has not been convicted.Key Facts
- The US deal covers 17 Venezuelan oil fields with about 65 billion barrels of crude oil.
- North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep), led by Alejandro Betancourt, will manage the oil production and sales.
- Alejandro Betancourt López was born in Caracas in 1980 and studied in Boston, with an estimated net worth of $2.6 billion.
- Betancourt’s company, Derwick Associates, won $5 billion in government contracts to build 11 power plants during Venezuela’s electricity crisis, mostly without bidding.
- He has been called part of the "bolichicos," a group of young Venezuelan entrepreneurs linked to government deals, though his lawyer disagrees with the label.
- Anti-corruption groups say some of Betancourt’s projects were overpriced or poorly done, but his legal team denies these claims and calls them political attacks.
- Betancourt’s business activities expanded internationally, including investing in the Spanish sunglasses company Hawkers.
- None of the investigations into Betancourt have led to criminal convictions so far.
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