Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, close to US President Donald Trump, became one of the key intermediaries in the oil deal between Caracas and Washington, Axios writes. It is Betancourt who owns a full stake in the oil producing company North American Blue Energy Partners, which has received contracts for the development of 17 fields, the publication notes.
Previously, another businessman close to Trump, Harry Sargent III, had a stake in this campaign, but in August he sold his shares to Betancourt. RTVI reported that Sargent’s structures were planning deliveries of Venezuelan oil to the Asian market.
In August, Trump announced an agreement with Venezuela to transfer control of its oil fields with reserves worth 65 billion barrels to Washington.
Under the agreement, the United States will have the right to replenish the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) with raw materials from Venezuela for 100 years. The American government will own a 55% stake in the joint company – part will be a block of shares, part will be a share in the extracted raw materials.
Trump called the deal “the biggest in history” and said it would lower fuel prices in the United States and “cost American taxpayers nothing.” Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez described the agreement as “historic” and promised it would lead to “the rebirth of the nation.”
According to Axios sources, without Betancourt – Trump's “oil baron” – this deal would not have happened. And Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the United States overthrew earlier this year, “may still be in power.”
According to Axios, Betancourt's ties to American authorities began during Trump's first term as president. During the same period, he acted as a mediator between the Venezuelan authorities and the opposition and even traveled to Moscow with a request to stop the Kremlin’s support for Nicolas Maduro. The businessman then handed over to the Russian authorities a letter from Juan Guaido, who in 2019 declared himself the acting president of Venezuela. Trump recognized him as the legitimate leader of Venezuela.
“Betancourt was in regular contact with Mauricio Claver-Carone, Trump’s unofficial representative in Venezuela, and discussed with him how to preserve oil supplies and the Venezuelan economy after the overthrow of Maduro,” Axios adds.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Betancourt also took part in negotiations with the Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital, a structure that helps finance activities aimed at strengthening US national defense. WSJ writes that the American military department, through this structure, plans to develop investments in the production of Venezuelan oil.
