North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep) confirmed on Wednesday, September 16, that the family of Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt retains a majority equity stake in the firm. Nabep operates an energy agreement granting Washington rights to 20% of Venezuelan crude reserves across 17 fields under a 100-year concession.
The Bottom Line
- Operational Scale: Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Barbados, Nabep produces over 200,000 barrels per day, positioning it as Venezuela’s second-largest private oil producer behind Chevron.
- Asset Deployment: The company reports deploying approximately 1.000 millones de dólares of private capital over a two-year window to revitalize underperforming assets in Lake Maracaibo and the Orinoco Oil Belt.
Decoding the Nabep Ownership Structure and U.S. Defense Stake
Corporate disclosures and White House reports released following the bilateral energy framework reveal a complex governance model. Alongside this holding, the U.S. government maintains formal veto rights over the company's board of directors, which must also feature a majority of U.S. citizens.
Despite significant state-level intervention from Washington and Caracas, a company spokesperson verified to Agence France-Presse that the Betancourt family preserves its controlling position.
The agreement itself encompasses 17 distinct crude oil deposits holding an estimated 65.000 millones de barriles de petróleo de reservas. Under a Productive Participation Contract executed with state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (Pdvsa), Nabep is tasked with extracting and managing these resources across a century-long horizon.
Production Metrics and Private Capital Deployment
According to corporate data, the firm injected nearly 1.000 millones de dólares of proprietary capital into Venezuelan fields over a roughly 24-month span.
Nabep specializes in acquiring underperforming assets and scaling output through targeted capital investments. The firm currently claims an output exceeding 200,000 barrels per day. That volume places Nabep directly behind Chevron, which maintains a production rate of entre 230,000 y 250,000 b/d barrels per day in the South American nation.
| Operator | Headquarters | Daily Production (Barrels) | Primary Operating Zones |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chevron | USA | entre 230,000 y 250,000 b/d | Orinoco Belt, Lake Maracaibo |
| North American Blue Energy Partners (Nabep) | Barbados | más de 200,000 | Orinoco Belt, Lake Maracaibo |
But the partnership has not advanced without friction. The selection of Alejandro Betancourt’s enterprise has sparked intense political controversy within Venezuela, drawing scrutiny from local energy analysts and political factions questioning the terms of the resource transfer.
Defending the Selection Amid Regional Controversy
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright addressed the backlash directly during a visit to Caracas, where he supervised the execution of the primary energy contracts. Wright defended the choice of partner by citing verifiable operational metrics.
“Nabep has demonstrated an historial sumamente exitoso en la producción de grandes volúmenes de petróleo en Venezuela. Ese es un socio comercial en el que usted puede confiar,” Wright stated, pointing to the firm’s track record of turning around stalled extraction sites.
Company representatives reinforced this stance, noting via email correspondence that regulatory authorities chose Nabep strictly on the basis of localized expertise and proven execution speed.
