VENEZUELA · ENERGY
Key Facts
—The concessionaire: North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), holder of the 100-year lease on 17 Venezuelan oilfields, is controlled by Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt, who is under investigation by US and European authorities but has never been charged and denies wrongdoing.
—The scale: With 14 newly granted contracts — five of them fields previously run by Chinese companies and one by a Russian firm — NABEP is already the second-largest oil operator in Venezuela, behind only Chevron.
—China’s answer: Beijing formally demanded that its “legitimate rights and interests” in Venezuela be safeguarded after the US-backed firm moved onto fields Chinese companies used to operate.
