01 Sep 2026

The Venezuelan Oil Gambit: Follow the Money - Part 1

By EVWorld.com AI Editorial Team

On August 28, President Donald Trump announced what he called the biggest oil deal in history: an agreement giving the United States access to an enormous share of Venezuela's petroleum reserves.

Introduction

There are moments when a government announces an energy deal and the obvious question is how much oil it will produce.

This isn't one of those moments.

The more interesting question is: Who is getting the deal?

On August 28, President Donald Trump announced what he called the biggest oil deal in history: an agreement giving the United States access to an enormous share of Venezuela's petroleum reserves.

Three days later, the White House began filling in the details.

The numbers are staggering.

A new private company will receive 100-year development rights to 17 Venezuelan oil fields containing approximately 65 billion barrels of proven reserves-roughly a fifth of Venezuela's total proven reserves. The company says it intends to invest as much as $100 billion rebuilding Venezuela's battered oil infrastructure.

And the U.S. government isn't merely going to regulate the enterprise or buy its oil.

It is becoming an owner.

The Pentagon's Office of Strategic Capital is to receive a 35 percent equity stake in the new company's corporate parent. The State Department will have the right to purchase 20 percent of its production at cost and first refusal on the remaining production. Washington will also have veto power over board appointments, with a majority of the board required to be American citizens. (The Washington Post)

The private company at the center of the arrangement is North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP.

And that is where the story gets interesting.

Meet Alejandro Betancourt

NABEP is controlled by Alejandro Betancourt, a Venezuelan businessman who has spent more than 15 years building a position in the country's oil industry.

Today NABEP describes itself as Venezuela's second-largest private oil producer, with production reportedly exceeding 200,000 barrels per day.

Betancourt is also a controversial figure.

He has been the subject of investigations outside Venezuela, although he has not been charged in the matters that have attracted scrutiny. British and European reporting has examined his extraordinary rise in wealth and his relationships with Venezuelan political and business figures.

Now that same businessman is Washington's chosen private-sector partner in rebuilding one of the world's largest petroleum industries.

The Trump administration says its due diligence found no violations of U.S. law.

That is an important fact.

So is the fact that questions about Betancourt's past have not disappeared simply because Washington has decided to do business with him.

Then there was Harry Sargeant

Before NABEP belonged to Betancourt, there was another American in the picture.

Harry Sargeant III is a Florida businessman whose family fortune grew from asphalt, petroleum and shipping. He expanded into oil trading, aviation fuel and international energy ventures and became a significant Republican donor and political operator.

Sargeant also developed something unusual for an American businessman: relationships in both Washington and Caracas.

He became an intermediary between the two worlds.

In April 2024, Sargeant and Betancourt co-founded NABEP.

For a time, they were partners.

Then the partnership changed.

In August 2026, Sargeant agreed to sell his minority interest in NABEP for approximately $300 million. According to reporting by Bloomberg and others, the buyer was a party close to Betancourt. The transaction came after pressure from the Trump administration for Sargeant to unwind his Venezuelan oil interests. (EL PAÍS English)

That transaction deserves attention.

Not because it proves corruption.

It doesn't.

Not because it proves anyone anticipated the subsequent government deal.

It doesn't.

But because the sequence is remarkable.

An American oilman with deep political connections is pressured to leave Venezuelan oil.

He sells his minority stake for $300 million.

His former partner becomes the dominant private player.

And shortly afterward, that company becomes the cornerstone of a U.S.-backed plan encompassing 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan reserves.

The obvious journalistic question is simple:

What did the parties know, and when did they know it?

The $300 million transaction

The Sargeant transaction may ultimately prove to be one of the most important pieces of this story.

If NABEP was worth $300 million to Sargeant when he sold his stake, what will that same stake-or the company as a whole-be worth after it receives century-long rights to develop 65 billion barrels of reserves and the backing of the United States government?

That isn't a rhetorical question.

The new arrangement could dramatically alter the value of NABEP's underlying business.

And it raises another question:

Who exactly owns the remaining private equity?

Betancourt is the controlling shareholder identified in current reporting. But the full capitalization and beneficial ownership structure of the corporate entities involved deserves scrutiny.

Especially because the U.S. government is about to become a 35 percent shareholder.

CONTINUED...

Original Source

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