The United States handled more than $12 billion of Venezuela’s oil revenues in the first nine months of this year, according to a report made public by the State Department on Thursday, in an arrangement established after President Donald Trump’s administration seized then-President Nicolas Maduro in January. The Venezuela oil revenue report offers the first detailed public window into how Washington has managed the country’s energy wealth.
The report, prepared by the accounting firm KPMG, sets out how funds were deposited into a US Treasury account by buyers of Venezuelan oil, as well as other natural resources, and released to the interim government led by former allies of Maduro that now works closely with Washington. The report, dated October 29, was transmitted to Congress in early November, a State Department official said in a statement to media.
Nearly 99 Per Cent Disbursed
The vast majority of the funds received in the account, more than $12.1 billion, were from the sale of oil, other petroleum-based products and natural gas, the report said. In total, the sales of Venezuelan crude, along with minor amounts of gold, minerals and fertiliser, produced $12.26 billion. Almost all of the money has been returned to Venezuela under the terms of a broad energy deal reached with the country’s interim authorities: $12.11 billion, or nearly 99 per cent of the total deposited in the account, was disbursed. As of September 30, the end of the 2026 budget year, $168.6 million remained in an escrow account managed by the US Treasury Department.
The bulk of the more than $12 billion in oil revenue collected by the US through September was disbursed to individuals and businesses in Venezuela through foreign exchange transactions with commercial banks in the country, according to the report. “The funds remain sovereign property of Venezuela” but are “held pending disposition for public, governmental, or diplomatic purposes” as determined by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the report said.
Window Into a Seized Industry
The report offers a window into the Venezuelan government’s finances since the US captured Maduro, bringing him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges, and took effective control of the country’s dilapidated oil industry. Under the terms of the deal, Venezuelan crude is sold on the open market, with proceeds going into the US-managed account. The arrangement has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and analysts who question how much oversight Congress has over funds that, by the report’s own terms, remain the sovereign property of another country. The State Department has not said whether a further report covering the final quarter of the year will be published. Read our earlier report on the rebound in oil prices here: https://reportrig.com/oil-prices-rebound-as-hormuz-tanker-attacks-revive-supply-fears/
