The Trump administration has completed its first sale of Venezuelan oil, valued at $500 million, an administration official confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
The sale comes less than two weeks after President Donald Trump and his Cabinet announced that they would be selling Venezuelan oil into the global marketplace “indefinitely,” as the administration seeks to expand U.S. drilling operations in the country.
An administration official told the Washington Examiner that additional sales of the thick crude will be held in the coming days and weeks.
“President Trump brokered a historic energy deal with Venezuela, immediately following the arrest of narcoterrorist Nicolás Maduro, that will benefit the American and Venezuelan people,” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said.
“President Trump’s team is facilitating positive, ongoing discussions with oil companies that are ready and willing to make unprecedented investments to restore Venezuela’s oil infrastructure,” Rogers added. “President Trump is protecting our Western Hemisphere from being taken advantage of by narcoterrorists, drug traffickers, and foreign adversaries.”
The sale proceeds are currently being held in bank accounts controlled by the U.S. government, Semafor reported.
A senior administration official told the outlet that the primary bank account holding the funds is located in Qatar. This was reportedly selected as a neutral location to ensure the funds can move freely and not be at risk of seizure.
Trump signed an executive order on Friday declaring a national emergency to safeguard revenue from the sale of Venezuelan oil. In this order, the president directed that some of the funds be held in U.S. Treasury accounts.
Last week, the Department of Energy outlined the administration’s plans for handling these proceeds, stating that they would be disbursed for the benefit of the American and Venezuelan people “at the discretion of the U.S. government.”
It was not immediately clear what this could look like, but Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez provided some insight earlier this week, reportedly stating that some of the revenue from oil sales will be used to improve Venezuela’s healthcare system.
The Trump administration plans to sell up to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan crude, which analysts estimate could be worth up to $2.5 billion.
Administration officials have confirmed that after those sales are completed, the United States will continue to sell the country’s oil “indefinitely.”
“Instead of the oil being blockaded, as it is right now, we’re gonna let the oil flow … to United States refineries and around the world to bring better oil supplies, but have those sales done by the U.S. government,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said last week.
TRUMP MEETS WITH OIL EXECUTIVES IN BID TO BOOST US DRILLING IN VENEZUELA
Venezuela is estimated to have the largest oil reserves in the world, around 300 billion barrels. The country extracts fewer than a million barrels of oil per day, however, less than one-tenth of the world’s top producers.
The Trump administration aims to rapidly increase these production levels, potentially by 50% within the next 12 to 18 months. However, some oil executives with majors like Exxon Mobil have offered skepticism about their ability to meet that aggressive timeline.
