Trump-Backed Venezuelan Oil Deal Puts Alejandro Betancourt López in Spotlight

According to the BBC, President Donald Trump has called a deal giving the US control of strategic Venezuelan oil fields “the biggest in history,” with North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep) set to oversee production and sales from 17 oil fields containing about 65 billion barrels of crude. The company is headed by Venezuelan oil businessman Alejandro Betancourt López, whose ties to the Venezuelan government date back to the Hugo Chávez era and who has faced investigations in five countries, though he has denied wrongdoing and has never been convicted. Betancourt, 46, is estimated to be worth about $2.6 billion and built his early fortune through Derwick Associates, which won 12 government contracts worth $5 billion without bidding. Critics have accused his firms of overbilling and unfinished work, allegations his legal team has rejected. He later expanded abroad, taking a stake in Spanish sunglasses maker Hawkers and acquiring banking entities in Switzerland and Africa. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Betancourt had a record of producing oil, was not under US investigation and had supported the opposition.