Alshair Fiyaz & Pacific Coast Energy Company's Venezuela ventures

El Pais: "The heirs of Oswaldo Cisneros, once one of Venezuela’s richest men, received unusual news last April: strangers were touring their oil fields in the Orinoco Belt. On paper, they remained the legitimate operators of the assets, but it soon became clear that, even as those visits took place in plain sight, a plan was being put in motion to take the fields away from them. The visitors were representatives of Pacific Coast Energy Company (PCEC), a little-known California-based firm owned by Belgian-born Pakistani billionaire Alshair Fiyaz..."

More: "It did not take the Cisneros heirs long to understand what they were after: their stake in the business, specifically the 40% interest in Petrodelta, the joint venture that operates the fields alongside Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA... What happened next, according to thousands of pages of case files, documents and public statements, was one of the most opaque oil-asset transfers to emerge in Venezuela since Nicolás Maduro’s removal. Official and unofficial Washington lobbyists acted as intermediaries in a process that enabled billionaire investors to acquire oil fields that were already being operated by others. This case, moreover, has a beneficiary, Pacific Coast Energy, aided by Alejandro Betancourt, the man of hour, the Venezuelan businessman who has become a key player in the country’s new political and economic landscape."

Pacific Coast Energy Company didn't have a foot in Venezuela's oil patch. Neither did its owner, Alshair Fiyaz. Only one question comes to mind: why now?

Here's a working hypothesis: Petrodelta, the JV between Cisneros' heirs and PDVSA, had other participants. Specifics were made public: "But Cisneros was not alone there. On the path that led him to the partnership of his company Delta Finance with Pdvsa to promote the creation of the Petrodelta joint venture (of the Orinoco Belt), he was accompanied by Francisco D'Agostino and Alessandro Bazzoni."

This site haas been reporting involvement of D'Agostino and Bazzoni in oil trading and shipping for years now. Despite D'Agostino's protestations, his association with Alejandro Betancourt was exposed here a long time ago, and it is now a matter of public record after publication of Jeffrey Epstein's emails. Bazzoni's involvement with MBaer Bank (liquidated afterwards) was first reported here as well. We also reported that Nicolas Maduro's own son tried on Betancourt's Petrozamora the exact same formula described above about Petrodelta, i.e. his share in the Petrozamora JV was just going to be transferred to somebody else, until Harry Sargeant came to the rescue.

D'Agostino and Bazzoni are well established members in the world of polo. So is Alshair Fiyaz. With sufficient money, it's an easy entry into an exclusive club of, mostly, very wealthy and well connected people and royalty. Bazzoni in particular has used polo's cachet to counter very humble origins, lack of credentials and illegal activities, running polo teams along his equally-deprived-of-credentials wife. Fiyaz simply bought a polo club in St Tropez.

There's an Argentinean dynasty of polo players, the Pieres family. Some of them have played for Bazzoni and others have played for Fiyaz. They've participated in same tournaments. Other than this scenario, where Fiyaz and Bazzoni have shared: fields, players in their teams closely related, and their passion for polo, which other connection could have placed Fiyaz in Betancourt's sphere, and more importantly, why would Betancourt help someone unconnected as Fiyaz establish a considerable presence in Venezuela's oil sector? Isn't this a rather elaborate way to control, along partner D'Agostino, Bazzoni & co., an even bigger chunk of Venezuelan oil resources?

Fiyaz's Pacific Coast Energy Company was given the Petrodelta JV share that used to belong to Cisneros, D'Agostino, Bazzoni and some others. Isn't this too much of a coincidence? According to Transparency International's Venezuela office, Pacific Coast Energy Company has 12 active fields concessions in:

1. Cabimas Tierra, 
2. Tía Juana Tierra, 
3. Tucupita, 
4. El Salto,
5. Temblador,
6. Bombal,
7. Uracoa,
8. lsleño,
9. FPO: Junín 7 Oeste, 
10. Junín 8 Este, 
11. FPO: UP Orocual,
12. UP Centro Sur Lago.

That makes it, after Betancourt's NAPEP, the second largest operator in terms of active fields, even ahead of Chevron, Repsol, ENI and other international oil companies.