By Simon Lewis
WASHINGTON, Nov 12 (Reuters) – 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 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. Details of the report were first reported by the New York Times on Tuesday.
“The report shows the process is working,” the official said, in comments issued anonymously. “In its first nine months, the account has supported the use of Venezuela’s oil and other natural resource revenues for essential public services, macroeconomic stability, and the rebuilding of key sectors such as energy, healthcare, and infrastructure.”
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. Smaller sums came from sales of gold ($108 million), minerals ($22 million) and fertilizer ($24.6 million), the report said.
“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.
It said that $12.11 billion, or nearly 99% of the total deposited in the account, was disbursed. Most went to foreign exchange auctions run by Venezuelan authorities, while $133 million went directly to vendors for services provided to the Venezuelan government.
The State Department redacted the names of the depositors in the publicly released version of the report, but the New York Times reported that the majority came from commodity giants Trafigura and Vitol, which were awarded special licenses to sell Venezuela’s oil shortly after the January 3 operation to seize Maduro and his wife.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that a Vitol gasoline trader’s ties to Vice President JD Vance helped the company secure that license.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Nia Williams)
