The U.S. Controls $13 Billion in Venezuelan Oil Money. Where Did It Go?

Following the invasion, we don't know how much money reached Venezuela, where it was spent or how much remains.

Brian Daitzman is the Editor of The Intellectualist. Subscribe to his Substack.

The Financial Times estimates that Venezuelan oil sales have generated more than $13 billion in revenue this year. The Energy Department has separately said that proceeds from those sales first settle in accounts controlled by the United States. But the White House and Energy Department records reviewed for this article, together with a State Department response reported by the Financial Times, do not provide a transaction-level reconciliation of transfers to Venezuela, authorized disbursements, expenses or remaining account balances.

The $13 billion figure is an estimate, not an audited government balance. The Financial Times calculated it using Venezuelan crude-shipment data from Kpler, a freight and analytics company, and price estimates from Argus Media. The newspaper said shipments with direct price estimates were worth about $11.5 billion and that historical price patterns brought the total above $13 billion.

The estimate excludes mining exports that American officials said were also being collected by the administration, according to the Financial Times. The calculation may therefore not capture all Venezuelan resource revenue entering arrangements controlled by the United States.

The accounting question has become more urgent since two powerful earthquakes struck Venezuela on June 24. The Associated Press reported that the death toll had reached 5,069 by July 18. The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction produced a preliminary estimate of $37 billion in direct physical damage, including about $24 billion in damage to buildings and $13 billion in damage to infrastructure.

John Barrett, the United States chargé d’affaires in Caracas, said money from the oil-revenue accounts was being made available for reconstruction, according to the Financial Times. He did not specify how much. The newspaper separately reported that the United States had made $386 million available for disaster relief, without identifying that assistance as part of the oil-account disbursements.

The Energy Department said the United States began marketing Venezuelan oil after President Nicolás Maduro was apprehended in January. Delcy Rodríguez subsequently became Venezuela’s acting president, according to the International Monetary Fund. The Energy Department also said the administration selectively eased sanctions and authorized channels through which Venezuelan crude could return to international markets.

American officials told the Financial Times that control of the oil accounts was being used in part as leverage over Rodríguez’s government.