Caracas, Venezuela – The United States has taken control of Venezuela’s oil sales following the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro last month, with revenue now exceeding $1 billion and future deposits moving from Qatar to the US Treasury, Energy Secretary Chris Wright has disclosed.
Okay News reports that Wright met with Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas this week, marking the highest-level US visit focused on energy policy to the OPEC nation in nearly three decades. In an interview with NBC News, Wright explained that an account previously set up in Qatar, controlled by the US government, had been used to receive oil payments before funds were transferred to Venezuela. However, that arrangement has now changed.
“Now we have an account at the US Treasury,” Wright told NBC News on Thursday. “The money won’t go to Qatar anymore.” He said the US has short-term agreements to sell another $5 billion of Venezuelan crude over the next few months, with oil already going to American refineries and Europe.
The initial $500 million from oil sales was deposited in the Qatar account before being transferred back to Venezuela, Wright said. He explained that this approach was necessary because Venezuela faces tens of billions of dollars in outstanding claims from creditors. These claims stem from the country defaulting on its sovereign debt and nationalising assets of oil companies like Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips.
“Since Venezuela has so many creditors and they owe a lot of money, we had some risk if we put it into a US bank account set up quickly that creditors could freeze that money,” Wright said. “We want those creditors ultimately to get their money back, but that money urgently needs to get to Venezuela.”
However, the arrangement faces a significant legal complication. The United States does not officially recognise the government led by Rodríguez. During his first term in 2019, President Donald Trump recognised the 2015 opposition-led National Assembly as Venezuela’s legitimate government. Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed this issue during a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on January 28, noting that Washington must find a way to resolve the recognition question for the funds to be deposited in the US.
“You have to recognise a government, but we don’t recognise this government,” Rubio said. “We recognise the 2015 National Assembly, so we have to find some creative way legally to meet that standard.”
Scott Anderson, an international law expert who previously served with the State Department and the US Embassy in Baghdad, said that Venezuelan oil revenue deposited in the US should theoretically be under control of the opposition National Assembly due to Trump’s recognition. This raises fundamental questions about which government Washington will ultimately recognise and when.
Wright told NBC that elections and a transition of power will likely occur in Venezuela during Trump’s term. He said US government oversight of Venezuela’s domestic affairs would conclude at that point. “It is a question of a process to get there,” Wright said. “Ultimately, what the long-term political leadership in Venezuela is going to be, it’s going to be up to Venezuela.”
The development represents a significant shift in US-Venezuela energy policy. Democrats in Congress have previously questioned the transparency and legality of the Qatar account arrangement. With funds now flowing through the US Treasury, the situation brings both greater oversight and heightened scrutiny of Washington’s role in Venezuela’s political future.
What happens next depends on how the US resolves the government recognition dilemma and whether the planned elections proceed. The coming months will also reveal whether the $5 billion in additional oil sales materialises and how Venezuela’s creditors respond to the new financial arrangement.
