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US-Venezuela oil deal: What is NABEP, the company set to exploit Venezuelan crude? Image: AFP / Andrew Caballero / Juan Barreto
🇲🇽 Mexico /Energy & Infrastructure

US-Venezuela oil deal: What is NABEP, the company set to exploit Venezuelan crude?

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Explainer Official statement New plan
  • North American Blue Energy Partners, led by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, secured an agreement with the United States to jointly exploit more than 20% of Venezuela’s oil reserves.
  • The White House said the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital will receive a 35% stake in NABEP’s parent company at no cost to U.S. taxpayers.
  • Betancourt built his fortune through Derwick Associates and has appeared in money-laundering investigations, although he has not been formally charged.

A Barbados-based company led by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt has secured an agreement with the United States that could run for up to a century and cover more than 20% of Venezuela’s oil reserves. The deal has the backing of the government of Delcy Rodríguez.

North American Blue Energy Partners, known as NABEP, operates from offices in Caracas, Maracaibo and Lechería. It describes itself as Venezuela’s second-largest oil company and as a leader in oil exploration and production with “decades of experience in the sector.” Much of its new team, however, has been assembled only shortly before the agreement between Washington and Caracas was announced.

leader in oil exploration and production

— North American Blue Energy PartnersNABEP uses the phrase to describe its position in Venezuela’s oil industry.

The company appointed Sara Chouraqui as legal director and Elizabeth Collery and Victoria Jacobson as general legal advisers last Wednesday. Betancourt said NABEP was “entering a new and important phase of its development, expanding our operations and establishing new strategic relationships.”

decades of experience in the sector

— North American Blue Energy PartnersThe company cites this experience in its corporate description.

The White House later disclosed that the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital would take a 35% stake in NABEP’s parent company, which will handle the operations. The White House said the stake would come at no cost to U.S. taxpayers.

Betancourt, 46, made his fortune in his thirties through Derwick Associates, which he co-founded in 2009. Despite having no previous experience in the electricity sector, the company won lucrative contracts under Hugo Chávez’s administration. Betancourt has appeared in investigations in Switzerland and Spain involving alleged money laundering linked to Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA. Venezuela ended one investigation without charges, and U.S. prosecutors have also mentioned his name in a PDVSA funds diversion inquiry. He has not been formally charged in any investigation.

entering a new and important phase of its development, expanding our operations and establishing new strategic relationships

— Alejandro BetancourtBetancourt made the statement when NABEP announced new legal appointments.
About this summary

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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