Where Did $13 Billion Go? Questions Mount Over Venezuela's Oil Money Under US Control

Six months after Washington seized control of the country's oil exports, little of the revenue appears to have reached Caracas — and Trump has said the money 'will be controlled by me'

More than $13 billion in revenue from Venezuelan oil sales has been collected by the Trump administration this year, according to calculations by the Financial Times, amid growing questions over where the money has gone and a lack of transparency surrounding its use.

The issue has drawn increasing scrutiny from economists and lawmakers as Venezuela struggles to show signs of a strong recovery, despite the easing of some US sanctions and an expansion of its oil exports. Washington assumed control over those exports after removing President Nicolás Maduro in January and installing Vice President Delcy Rodríguez as the country’s leader. With oil accounting for roughly a quarter of Venezuela’s GDP, the sanctions relief and expanded market access had been expected to lift the economy significantly — yet six months on, the impact appears limited, raising concerns that the full proceeds may not have been returned to Caracas.

Conflicting explanations

The administration has offered differing accounts of how the money is being handled. A January executive order described the US role as “custodial,” stating the revenues remained Venezuelan property held in US accounts. Trump, however, later said the money “will be controlled by me” and claimed the US was “making a lot of money” from Venezuelan oil — telling audiences in June that the proceeds had recovered the cost of the military operation “28 times,” and boasting: “48 minutes to win that war. We brought millions of barrels of oil out.”

The conflicting statements have prompted lawmakers from both parties to demand clarity. Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro said the operation had been “about oil, power and graft from the very beginning,” with billions in revenue controlled “without transparency or safeguards” while Congress was “kept in the dark.” Republican Representative María Elvira Salazar has likewise pressed the administration to disclose how the revenues are managed, citing the importance of transparency.

The FT’s figure of more than $13 billion is based on crude shipments since January, drawing on Kpler shipping data and Argus Media pricing for Venezuela’s Merey, Boscan, and Hamaca grades; direct pricing covers about $11.5 billion, with the remainder estimated from historical patterns. Venezuela’s own online platform to track the US-managed sales records just one transaction so far — a $300 million transfer in March.

An earthquake sharpens the questions

The absence of detail has become especially contentious since the devastating earthquakes of June 24, with the UN estimating that repairing damaged buildings and infrastructure alone could cost $37 billion.

The administration maintains that some money has been returned. In April, senior State Department official Michael Kozak said around $3 billion had been sent and that KPMG was auditing the accounts, pledging quarterly reports — though House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats say they have received nothing since. Kozak also acknowledged the leverage the arrangement gives Washington over Rodríguez, telling a congressional hearing: “It’s their money but . . . they have to get our permission.” The State Department says billions have been disbursed and that “financial monitoring is under way to ensure funds benefit the Venezuelan people.”

Weak growth, unanswered questions

The sluggish recovery has deepened the doubts. Economists had expected stronger growth once Venezuela could stop selling oil at steep sanctions-dodging discounts, yet official first-quarter growth of 2.5 percent was the weakest in nearly five years. Francisco Rodríguez, a Venezuelan economist in Washington, said the country “likely did not grow more rapidly despite increased oil revenues” because the US “didn’t transfer to the Venezuelan government the totality” of them. Former opposition lawmaker José Guerra put it more bluntly: “Where is the money? There is no transparency, and the US government does not inform us.”

The earthquakes have intensified pressure on Rodríguez to access Venezuelan assets held abroad, including funds at the IMF and gold held by the Bank of England pending a legal dispute. Washington has separately allocated $386 million in disaster relief and deployed hundreds of troops, and the US chargé d’affaires in Caracas said this month that oil-revenue funds were also being “made available” for reconstruction, without saying how much. Analysts warn the issue could become a magnet for congressional investigation: as one former White House official on Latin America put it, “This could be a really juicy target” — one inviting “lots of subpoenas and requests for testimony about the distribution of Venezuelan oil money.”

Reference: Al-Mayadeen