Trump’s Venezuela fixer is promoting ‘America First’ oil deals

A Venezuelan mogul who minted a fortune selling power turbines and pumping oil has emerged as the Trump administration’s fixer for promoting “America First” deals for favored US companies, as Washington moves to exert more influence in the resource-rich South American country.

Alejandro Betancourt, an entrepreneur with a checkered history who controls Venezuela’s leading independent oil producer, is helping the US administration identify promising energy assets, assess operational bottlenecks and make industry connections, according to people familiar with his role.

Betancourt is working to facilitate a US strategy to tap smaller American wildcatters as established oil majors have largely balked at investing there. Several preliminary agreements have been reached in recent months with companies including Lionheart Capital and Pacific Coast Energy Co., known as PCEC.

Bloomberg’s reporting on Betancourt is based on interviews with his business associates, government officials and advisers familiar with his work. They requested anonymity because they didn’t want to be identified discussing confidential matters, feared retribution or were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The tycoon’s emergence as a central figure offers insight into how Washington is stepping up efforts to encourage US companies to pump Venezuelan oil and invest $100 billion in a country President Donald Trump describes as the 51st state. More than seven months after the US captured Nicolás Maduro, blessed his replacement and declared Venezuela open for business, significant oil deals remain elusive, held up by complex negotiations with state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela SA and sanctions constraints. 

In the absence of competitive bidding, progress is opaque. That’s given Betancourt tremendous sway in Venezuelan oil circles, the people said, in spite of years of investigations in Europe, the US and Venezuela over allegations of corruption, money laundering and tax fraud. He has denied any wrongdoing and was never charged with a crime.

Until recently, Betancourt avoided US soil out of concern over the American probe, people familiar with the matter........

© Fortune