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Under eastern Venezuela sits the largest crude reserve on the planet. The operator now leading its development for the U.S.–Venezuela deal is Alejandro Betancourt López.
A Reserve Like No Other
Venezuela holds more than 300 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, the most of any country, and most of it lies in the Orinoco Belt. Exploration of the region has pointed to an enormous resource: the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated that between 380 and 652 billion barrels could eventually be recovered from the belt with enough investment.
The catch is the crude itself. Orinoco oil is heavy and high in sulfur, dark and slow to refine, and it takes extended processing to turn into gasoline. Reserves that size are only worth something if an operator can produce and move them, and for two decades Venezuela struggled to do either.
Where Betancourt’s Operation Fits
His company, North American Blue Energy Partners, already pumps about 200,000 barrels a day from fields around Lake Maracaibo and the Orinoco Belt, second only to Chevron among the country’s private producers. Under the late-August deal, NABEP holds the operational lead across 17 fields and plans to push output toward 1 million barrels a day within five years. Eight greenfield blocks sit behind those fields, part of a program aiming at an initial 1.5 million barrels a day. Reaching even the first phase would mark the belt’s biggest revival in a generation.
Venezuela keeps ownership of the belt and its sovereignty, collecting about $19 a barrel under terms it projects could be worth $209 billion over the contract. The reserve has always been there. What the deal adds is capital, foreign partners, and an operator who knows how to work the heavy crude. That operator is Alejandro Betancourt López, and the Orinoco Belt is the ground his company is now tasked with bringing back.
The belt didn’t open on its own. After Maduro was removed from power in January 2026, the interim government rewrote the country’s energy law and reopened the sector, and Washington eased the sanctions that had kept the crude off American markets. NABEP was already producing there, which is why it took the lead role. Chevron and a set of international players are signing on to the announced projects, but the operator tasked with scaling the heavy Orinoco crude is Betancourt.
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