US to Allow Venezuela Oil Sales Under Treasury Oversight

The Trump administration will soon permit Venezuela to sell oil currently subject to U.S. sanctions, with revenue initially directed toward essential government services like policing and healthcare, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday.

Speaking at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, Rubio outlined how the United States will maintain oversight of oil revenue to ensure it benefits the Venezuelan people rather than being diverted to corrupt officials.

“The funds from that will be deposited into an account that we will have oversight over,” Rubio explained. “Venezuela will spend that money for the benefit of the Venezuelan people.”

The Treasury Department will directly control the process, requiring Venezuela’s interim government to submit monthly budgets detailing planned expenditures. This arrangement represents a significant shift in U.S. policy toward Venezuela, which possesses the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves.

The decision comes in the wake of a U.S. operation that captured former President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month. Under the new framework, American authorities aim to leverage Venezuela’s vast oil resources to influence the country’s transition while preventing economic collapse.

“This is simply a way to divide revenue so that there isn’t systemic collapse while we work through this recovery and transition,” Rubio said, emphasizing that the arrangement is a temporary measure. “We only control the dispersal of the money, we don’t control the actual money.”

During the hearing, Democrats and some Republicans pressed Rubio for additional details about the administration’s plans. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) sought assurances that oil sales would be conducted fairly and openly, not structured to benefit companies aligned with President Trump.

“You are taking their oil at gunpoint, you are holding and selling that oil… you’re deciding how and for what purposes that money is going to be used in a country of 30 million people,” Murphy said. “I think a lot of us believe that that is destined for failure.”

Rubio countered that under Maduro’s leadership, Venezuela’s oil industry primarily benefited corrupt officials and countries like China, which purchased Venezuelan crude at discounted prices. He added that Venezuela’s interim leadership is now helping the U.S. seize illegal oil shipments.

The revenue mechanism involves funds initially set up in Qatar to avoid seizure by American creditors and other legal complications stemming from the U.S. not recognizing Maduro’s government as legitimate. Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been placed in this account, with an anticipated $3 billion more expected to flow in.

Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez previously announced that oil revenue would be directed into two sovereign wealth funds: one supporting the country’s crisis-stricken healthcare system and another bolstering public infrastructure, including the electric grid.

The country’s healthcare system has deteriorated to the point where patients must provide their own medical supplies, from syringes to surgical screws, and pay for laboratory tests and imaging at private facilities.

During a televised event Tuesday announcing healthcare facility upgrades, Rodríguez said her government and the U.S. administration “have established respectful and courteous channels of communication” since Maduro’s capture. At her request, Venezuelan lawmakers last week began debating an overhaul of the country’s energy law aimed at creating conditions to attract much-needed private foreign investment.

Rubio clarified that the U.S. will not subsidize oil industry investments in Venezuela, but is merely overseeing the sale of sanctioned petroleum as an “interim step” while the country works through its political transition.