The US has collected about $13bn of Venezuela’s oil money. Where is it?
▻https://archive.md/2026.07.22-041431/https://www.ft.com/content/0e562e03-106e-4729-83d7-675c27eb8c4d?syn-25a6b1a6=1
Où sont passés les 13 milliards du pétrole vénézuélien ?
The Trump administration has collected more than $13bn in revenues from Venezuelan oil sales this year, according to FT calculations, but has said almost nothing about what has happened to the money.
The US took control of Venezuela’s oil exports and suspended some sanctions after capturing President Nicolás Maduro in January and installing vice-president Delcy Rodríguez as leader.
Oil revenues make up around a quarter of Venezuela’s GDP, and the sanctions relief was expected to provide a major boost to the economy, which was in crisis even before last month’s devastating earthquakes.
But six months after the US seized control of the funds, economists say the evidence of a recovery in Venezuela is relatively muted — a potential sign that the US has not sent all the revenues back to Caracas.
Washington has given diverging accounts of what it is doing with the money, ranging from an executive order describing its own role as “custodial” to President Donald Trump saying the US was “making a lot of money” from Venezuelan oil.
US lawmakers from both parties are starting to pressure the administration to explain where it has gone and what it is doing to prevent corruption around its allocation.
