The secret history of Trump's Venezuelan oil baron

Axios reports that President Trump’s latest Venezuelan oil partnership hinges on Alejandro Betancourt, a forty‑six‑year‑old oil executive who now works with the Pentagon to tap fields in a country where U.S. reserves are dwindling. A senior U.S. official told Axios the deal would not happen without Betancourt, noting his long‑standing ties to U.S. efforts to remove Nicolás Maduro. Betancourt’s firm will receive access to up to seventeen fields, while the United States takes a thirty‑five percent equity stake and a share of the after‑tax oil priced at roughly thirty dollars a barrel. Energy analysts, however, warn the arrangement may be difficult to execute and is unlikely to bring down gasoline prices in the near term.

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