Harry Sargeant III exits Venezuelan oil company amid US policy shift

Harry Sargeant III, the Florida-based energy and shipping magnate who spent decades cultivating back-channel ties between Washington and Caracas, has sold his stake in Venezuela’s second-largest private oil company for $300 million. The deal, finalized around August 8, represents less of a graceful exit and more of an involuntary one, coming after the US Treasury froze his assets.

The transaction involved Sargeant divesting his offshore vehicle, Bluewave Properties Ltd., which held a minority stake in North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP). The buyer is tied to Alejandro Betancourt, the Venezuelan businessman who serves as NABEP’s controlling shareholder.

What forced Sargeant’s hand

The US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control froze Bluewave’s assets, citing violations related to a 2018 executive order that restricted American engagements with the Venezuelan government. That executive order, originally signed during Trump’s first term, limited how US persons and entities could interact with Maduro’s regime and its economic apparatus.

Sargeant had been a significant Republican donor and had positioned himself as an intermediary between Washington and Caracas since the late 1980s.

NABEP itself produces approximately 160,000 barrels per day, making it a meaningful player in Venezuela’s oil industry outside the state-run PDVSA apparatus. Under Betancourt’s leadership, NABEP carved out a significant niche in a country whose oil sector has been battered by years of mismanagement, sanctions, and political turmoil.

A broader crackdown on Venezuela ties

The 2018 executive order that OFAC cited as the basis for freezing Bluewave’s assets was designed to limit US support for the Maduro government’s economic activities. Enforcing it against Sargeant’s holdings suggests the administration is interpreting the order’s scope broadly, applying it to private oil operations that may have indirect connections to the Venezuelan state.

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