The Trump administration has authorized a major agreement granting the US control of 17 Venezuelan oil fields containing approximately 65 billion barrels of crude through North American Blue Energy Partners, a Barbados-registered company. The arrangement places Alejandro Betancourt López, a 46-year-old Venezuelan businessman estimated to be worth around $2.6 billion, at the center of what the administration describes as a historic energy deal.
Betancourt’s rise in Venezuelan business circles began with school connections made at a private religious institution in Caracas. In 2009, leveraging a friendship with the son of an executive at the state oil company, he and partners at his engineering firm Derwick Associates secured 12 government contracts worth $5 billion without competitive bidding. Anti-corruption organizations have alleged that several of these electrification projects were either incomplete or substantially overpriced, with one 2018 analysis suggesting a 138 percent cost overrun. Betancourt’s legal representatives have characterized such accusations as politically motivated.
Beyond Venezuela, Betancourt expanded his business interests internationally throughout the mid-2010s, acquiring stakes in companies across banking, retail, and other sectors in multiple countries. His business network now encompasses approximately 50 companies across 16 nations. However, this expansion coincided with increased legal scrutiny. In 2013, the former US ambassador to Venezuela filed suit alleging Betancourt paid Venezuelan officials to secure contracts, though that case was dismissed five years later. More recently, judicial authorities in Spain, Switzerland, Andorra, and the US have initiated investigations into alleged corruption and money laundering schemes. In 2025, British police detained Betancourt twice in London, with raids also conducted on his Spanish estate, reportedly as part of a Swiss money laundering investigation. Betancourt has denied all allegations and has not been charged with any crimes.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited three reasons for selecting Betancourt as a partner: his track record in oil production, his lack of current US investigations, and his support for the Venezuelan political opposition. Betancourt’s relationship with opposition figures during Trump’s first term helped establish connections with US officials, distinguishing him from other Venezuelan businessmen who maintained ideological ties to the previous government.
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