President Donald Trump has chosen Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt to lead a US-backed oil venture in Venezuela after Washington reached an agreement with interim President Delcy Rodriguez. The deal gives North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), Venezuela’s second-largest oil firm, 100-year concessions covering 17 fields with approximately 65 billion barrels of proven reserves. The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital will receive a 35 percent passive stake, while the US will have the right to buy 20 percent of the venture’s output at cost through the State Department. NABEP produces about 200,000 barrels per day and says it aims to exceed 1 million barrels per day, supported by up to $100 billion in planned infrastructure investment. Betancourt built his fortune through power-plant contracts during Hugo Chavez’s presidency and has faced money-laundering and corruption investigations in the United States, Spain and Switzerland, as well as two arrests in the UK in 2025. He denies the accusations and has not faced formal criminal charges or convictions. The Trump administration says the arrangement will expand oil production and strengthen US energy security, although Trump acknowledged that US consumers would not see an immediate change in petrol prices.