Washington is starting to ask the quiet part out loud: who, exactly, is making money off Venezuela’s oil?
This week, U.S. Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on a House investigative committee, sent letters to Vitol and Trafigura demanding records of any communications they’ve had with the Trump administration since January of last year. The timing is not subtle. U.S. forces captured Venezuela’s longtime strongman Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, and Washington has since taken control of Venezuelan oil sales on what it has described as an indefinite basis.
Vitol and Trafigura just so happen to be the first trading houses granted U.S. licenses to load and export Venezuelan crude under the new arrangement. Garcia wants to know whether that outcome was coincidence, choreography, or something in between.
In his letter, Garcia said the committee is seeking answers about the administration’s intentions regarding the sale and marketing of Venezuelan oil, as well as the destination of the resulting revenue. He also asked for details on any agreements the companies may have reached with U.S. officials related to Venezuelan commodities and their role in executing U.S. policy.
Neither Vitol nor Trafigura has responded publicly, but the scrutiny lands at an awkward moment for everyone involved.
Venezuela is in the middle of what looks like a genuine policy pivot. The interim government is moving to overhaul its hydrocarbons law, loosening operational control, allowing more flexible deal structures, and opening the door wider to foreign capital. On paper, it’s the most pragmatic shift Caracas has attempted in decades. Less ideology, more barrels.
But reforms mean little if the commercial upside is perceived to be pre-allocated. That’s where Washington’s optics problem comes in. When the U.S. captures a foreign leader, takes over oil sales, and then hands the export licenses to two of the world’s largest commodity traders, lawmakers are inevitably going to ask who came up with the guest list.
For U.S. refiners starved for heavy crude, Venezuelan barrels are suddenly back in play. For traders, it’s a rare chance to operate at scale in a market that’s been out of reach for years. And for Democrats heading into a tight midterm cycle, it’s fertile ground for oversight theater.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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