The U.S. took in $12 billion for Venezuela's oil. Nearly all of it went back to Venezuela.

What happened

On November 12 the State Department published a report, prepared with the consulting firm KPMG, on the money paid for Venezuela's oil since U.S. forces seized its president, Nicolás Maduro, on January 3.^225202924 Through September 30, buyers paid $12.26 billion into accounts the United States controls, nearly all of it for oil.¹⁹ Of that, $12.11 billion, or 98.7%, was paid back out, almost all of it as dollars sold through Venezuela's banks to businesses and people. On September 30, $168.6 million was still in the account, kept for future payouts.¹

• The State Department made public a report on the Venezuela Custody Account, prepared with KPMG, its contracted monitor and adviser, on November 12, 2026; bne IntelliNews called it the first official tally since Maduro's capture.²²⁵²⁰
• U.S. forces seized Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, on January 3, 2026, the date the report's period begins.²⁹²⁴
• From January to September 30, buyers paid $12,263,715,308.36 from 20 depositors into the accounts the report covers, counting January's payments into the interim account at Qatar National Bank along with the Treasury account's; oil, other petroleum products and one natural-gas deposit made up 98.7 percent.¹
• Under U.S. licenses, buyers of Venezuelan oil, gold, minerals and fertilizer must pay into the U.S. Treasury Venezuela Custody Account.¹
• The first payments, in January, went into a temporary account of Venezuela's central bank at Qatar National Bank, which Rubio confirmed was owned by Venezuela but controlled by the U.S., House Democrats wrote; by late January the U.S. Treasury's Venezuela Custody Account had taken over.¹⁹
• The account paid out $12,107,622,199.55, and $168,558,474.25 remained on September 30, held for future payouts the central bank requests.¹
• Of the payouts, $2,087,747,625.12 went through currency auctions from January to March, $9,322,000,000 through electronic currency interventions from March 31, $549,760,000 as U.S. banknotes shipped in by air from July, and $133,114,048.23 to vendors; another $15.0 million of what left the account sat unspent in a central-bank account on September 30.¹
• In an intervention, the central bank sells dollars to banks at a rate it sets and takes the matching bolívars from their accounts; the banks sell the dollars to businesses and individuals.¹
• By the banks' data, businesses received $9.37 billion of the dollars and individuals $2.87 billion; the central bank's account that fed those sales also held other money, including $346 million Venezuela drew from the IMF, which the data cannot separate, so the totals do not trace the account's money alone.¹

The money moves in four steps. Under U.S. sanctions licenses, buyers of Venezuela's oil, gold, minerals and fertilizer pay dollars into an account the United States controls: for the first weeks an account of Venezuela's central bank at Qatar National Bank, and since late January the U.S. Treasury's Venezuela Custody Account.¹⁹ When Venezuela's central bank asks for money, the State Department and the Treasury decide whether to release it.¹ The central bank sells most of the released dollars through Venezuelan banks to businesses and people, who pay for them in bolívars, Venezuela's currency.¹ The central bank then uses those bolívars for government spending, such as public payrolls, the report says.¹ An order President Trump signed on January 9 sets the terms: the money belongs to Venezuela, but the United States decides how it is spent.³

• Under U.S. licenses, buyers of Venezuelan oil, gold, minerals and fertilizer must pay into the U.S. Treasury Venezuela Custody Account.¹
• The first payments, in January, went into a temporary account of Venezuela's central bank at Qatar National Bank, which Rubio confirmed was owned by Venezuela but controlled by the U.S., House Democrats wrote; by late January the U.S. Treasury's Venezuela Custody Account had taken over.¹⁹
• Every payout requires a request from Venezuela's central bank and approval from the State Department and the Treasury.¹
• In an intervention, the central bank sells dollars to banks at a rate it sets and takes the matching bolívars from their accounts; the banks sell the dollars to businesses and individuals.¹
• Of the payouts, $2,087,747,625.12 went through currency auctions from January to March, $9,322,000,000 through electronic currency interventions from March 31, $549,760,000 as U.S. banknotes shipped in by air from July, and $133,114,048.23 to vendors; another $15.0 million of what left the account sat unspent in a central-bank account on September 30.¹
• The report says the central bank uses the bolívars it collects for government spending, such as public-sector payrolls.¹
• Under Trump's January 9 order, the money in the account is the property of Venezuela's government, held by the U.S. only as custodian, to be disposed of for purposes the Secretary of State determines.³

Democrats in Congress have pressed the administration about the account since March, and in September three senators asked how much was in it and where the money had gone.¹⁵¹¹ The report answers part of that: it says how much came in and how it left, but not who bought the dollars.¹²⁸

• On March 11, Rep. Sean Casten and Sen. Chris Van Hollen wrote to Treasury Secretary Bessent asking for the legal authority and agreements behind the account; they wrote that Rubio had testified that $300 million had been transferred to the Venezuelan government to meet public-sector payroll.¹⁵
• On September 16, Senators Wyden, Warren and Whitehouse wrote that the administration had "failed to explain where that money has gone" or whether safeguards prevented it being directed to "politically favored insiders," and asked how much was in the account and for every recipient, including beneficial owners. They warned the administration could direct the money "by encouraging or coercing Venezuela to request specific payments or purchases."¹¹
• From January to September 30, buyers paid $12,263,715,308.36 from 20 depositors into the accounts the report covers, counting January's payments into the interim account at Qatar National Bank along with the Treasury account's; oil, other petroleum products and one natural-gas deposit made up 98.7 percent.¹
• Of the payouts, $2,087,747,625.12 went through currency auctions from January to March, $9,322,000,000 through electronic currency interventions from March 31, $549,760,000 as U.S. banknotes shipped in by air from July, and $133,114,048.23 to vendors; another $15.0 million of what left the account sat unspent in a central-bank account on September 30.¹
• The public report gives the dollars' buyers by sector and type, not by name; the banks report each buyer by tax ID to the central bank, which passes the data to the State Department and KPMG.¹²⁸

Where the $12 billion went

The account does not hold all of Venezuela's oil money: two of its largest crude exporters, Chevron and NABEP, sell at least some of their oil outside it, the Times reported.²⁴ In an August deal, the White House says, the United States took a 35% stake in NABEP's parent company.⁶ From January to March, the central bank sold the account's dollars at auction. Since March 31 it has sold them to banks at an exchange rate it sets, and from July it also shipped in U.S. banknotes by air.¹³² A small part went straight to vendors, and a small part was still held on September 30.¹

• Chevron and NABEP, two of Venezuela's largest crude exporters, sell at least some of their Venezuelan oil outside the account, the Times reported.²⁴
• Under the August NABEP deal, the War Department's Office of Strategic Capital holds a 35% stake in NABEP's parent, which the White House says represents "up to hundreds of billions in value and dividends," and the State Department can buy 20% of NABEP's oil at production cost.⁶
• Of the payouts, $2,087,747,625.12 went through currency auctions from January to March, $9,322,000,000 through electronic currency interventions from March 31, $549,760,000 as U.S. banknotes shipped in by air from July, and $133,114,048.23 to vendors; another $15.0 million of what left the account sat unspent in a central-bank account on September 30.¹¹
• In an intervention, the central bank sells dollars to banks at a rate it sets and takes the matching bolívars from their accounts; the banks sell the dollars to businesses and individuals.¹
• Since March 31 the central bank has sold the dollars at a fixed rate it sets; the report does not publish the rate of each sale.¹³²
• Of the $12.11 billion that left the account, $12.09 billion had been paid through the four channels by September 30 and $15.0 million sat in a central-bank account that cannot be used without U.S. approval; $192.9 million in banknotes awaited authorization.¹

In the electronic sales used since March 31, the central bank hands a bank dollars and takes the matching amount of bolívars from the bank's account; the bank then sells the dollars to its customers.¹ The report says none of the dollars sold through the banks went to government bodies.¹

• In an intervention, the central bank sells dollars to banks at a rate it sets and takes the matching bolívars from their accounts; the banks sell the dollars to businesses and individuals.¹
• The report says none of the dollars sold through the banks went to government bodies; its separate vendor list includes payments to foreign central banks and to Venezuela's mission at the United Nations.¹

By the banks' own reports, businesses bought $9.37 billion of the dollars and individuals $2.87 billion. Food and consumer-goods companies bought the most, $3.35 billion, followed by business services at $2.22 billion and agriculture at $1.18 billion.¹ Those totals include other money the central bank held, among it $346 million Venezuela drew from the International Monetary Fund, so they do not trace the account's dollars alone.¹ The banks report each buyer by tax number, and the central bank passes that data to the State Department and KPMG; the public report gives none of the names.¹²⁸

• By the banks' data, businesses received $9.37 billion of the dollars and individuals $2.87 billion; the central bank's account that fed those sales also held other money, including $346 million Venezuela drew from the IMF, which the data cannot separate, so the totals do not trace the account's money alone.¹¹
• Food and consumer goods businesses received $3.35 billion, business services $2.22 billion and agriculture $1.18 billion.¹
• The public report gives the dollars' buyers by sector and type, not by name; the banks report each buyer by tax ID to the central bank, which passes the data to the State Department and KPMG.¹²⁸

Twenty banks sold the dollars, and five of them handled about 83%.¹³² The largest was the state-owned Banco de Venezuela, with about $2.88 billion.¹²⁰ The report does not give the rate of each sale, so it cannot show whether some buyers got dollars cheaper than others.¹³²

• The dollars went to 20 Venezuelan commercial banks.¹
• Five of the 20 banks received about 83% of the dollars sold through the three currency channels.¹³²
• State-owned Banco de Venezuela handled the most dollars, about $2.88 billion across auctions, electronic interventions and banknotes.¹²⁰
• Since March 31 the central bank has sold the dollars at a fixed rate it sets; the report does not publish the rate of each sale.¹³²

The $133.1 million paid directly to vendors went mostly to medicine and to oil and power equipment.¹ The account also paid KPMG $18.2 million on April 10, for its own work.¹

• Of the $133.1 million in vendor payments, about $57.4 million went to medicines, dialysis and test supplies and to Venezuela's outstanding commitments to the Pan American Health Organization's funds for vaccines and public-health supplies.¹
• About $35.6 million of the vendor payments bought equipment and services for oil, power, coal and fertilizer operations, and $1.6 million more went to industrial chemicals and air-traffic communications.¹
• On April 10, the account paid KPMG $18,175,707 for financial oversight.¹

The promised audits

The account began with two different descriptions. On January 7 the Energy Department said the money would be spent "for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the U.S. government."⁵ Two days later Trump's order declared it Venezuela's property.³ Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators on January 28 that the account belongs to Venezuela and that the United States controls only how the money is paid out.¹⁸

• On January 7 the Energy Department said the oil money would be "disbursed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the U.S. government."⁵
• Under Trump's January 9 order, the money in the account is the property of Venezuela's government, held by the U.S. only as custodian, to be disposed of for purposes the Secretary of State determines.³
• At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on January 28, Rubio said: "We only control the dispersal of the money" and called the account one that "belongs to Venezuela."¹⁸

Officials promised Congress audits. Rubio told senators in January the U.S. would conduct them, AP reported, and in April the State Department's Michael Kozak told House members that KPMG had been commissioned as an independent auditor, with audits at least every quarter, according to House Democrats who quoted him in a September letter.¹⁸⁸ State signed KPMG's order on April 10.⁴ Democrats kept pressing. In March Rep. Sean Casten and Sen. Chris Van Hollen asked the Treasury for the account's legal basis, and in September Senators Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse wrote that the administration had failed to explain where the money had gone.¹⁵¹¹

• On January 28 Rubio told senators the U.S. would conduct audits to make sure the money was used as intended, AP reported.¹⁸
• House Democrats say State's Michael Kozak told them in April that KPMG had been commissioned as an independent auditor, with audits at least quarterly.⁸
• State's order with KPMG for a "Venezuela natural resources revenue transparency mechanism," signed April 10, is worth $84.4 million with all options; $14.9 million had been obligated as of the data's September 18 update.⁴
• On March 11, Rep. Sean Casten and Sen. Chris Van Hollen wrote to Treasury Secretary Bessent asking for the legal authority and agreements behind the account; they wrote that Rubio had testified that $300 million had been transferred to the Venezuelan government to meet public-sector payroll.¹⁵
• On September 16, Senators Wyden, Warren and Whitehouse wrote that the administration had "failed to explain where that money has gone" or whether safeguards prevented it being directed to "politically favored insiders," and asked how much was in the account and for every recipient, including beneficial owners. They warned the administration could direct the money "by encouraging or coercing Venezuela to request specific payments or purchases."¹¹

The report is dated October 29 and went to Congress in early November, a State Department official said.²⁹ It became public on November 12.²²⁵²⁰

• The report is dated October 29 and was sent to Congress in early November, a State Department official said.²⁹
• The State Department made public a report on the Venezuela Custody Account, prepared with KPMG, its contracted monitor and adviser, on November 12, 2026; bne IntelliNews called it the first official tally since Maduro's capture.²²⁵²⁰

What each side says

The State Department. "The report shows the process is working," an official said, in a statement issued anonymously.²⁹

• A State Department official said, according to Reuters, "The report shows the process is working."²⁹

Venezuela's government. The acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, said on November 12 that 99 of every 100 dollars of oil and mining income this year went to public wages and pensions.¹⁹³⁰ Her government's figures show $14.710 billion for wages and pensions: 99% of the $14.860 billion it spent, and 94% of the $15.603 billion it took in, on a portal that covers two government funds.¹⁹³⁰ That fits the report's account of the bolívars funding payrolls, but no record ties her figures to the account's.¹

• Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, said on November 12 that 99 of every 100 dollars of oil and mining income from January to November went to public-sector wages and pensions. Her government's figures show $14.710 billion for wages and pensions, which is 99 percent of the $14.860 billion spent and 94 percent of the $15.603 billion taken in, on a portal that covers two government funds.^19301930
• The report says the central bank uses the bolívars it collects for government spending, such as public-sector payrolls.¹

Venezuela's opposition. The opposition party Primero Justicia says the banking spending the U.S. report describes does not appear in the government's reports, and demands proof of each operation.¹² Ricardo Ríos, writing on X, asks who benefited most from the dollars sold at preferential rates.²⁶

• The opposition party Primero Justicia said the banking spending the U.S. report describes does not appear in the government's reports, and demanded proof of each operation.¹²
• Ricardo Ríos wrote on X that more than 90% of the money went to sell dollars in Venezuela's domestic market and asked who the main beneficiaries of those preferential-rate dollars were.²⁶

Senate Democrats. Wyden, Warren and Whitehouse warned that the money could be directed to "politically favored insiders," and asked for every recipient, including the owners behind companies.¹¹

• On September 16, Senators Wyden, Warren and Whitehouse wrote that the administration had "failed to explain where that money has gone" or whether safeguards prevented it being directed to "politically favored insiders," and asked how much was in the account and for every recipient, including beneficial owners. They warned the administration could direct the money "by encouraging or coercing Venezuela to request specific payments or purchases."¹¹

Every explanation, tested

Where the money went, as each side explains it, with the evidence for and against.

What happens next

Democrats take both chambers on January 3.²⁰ The senators' questions about who received the money, down to the owners behind companies, are still open, and so is the rate at which the central bank sold each dollar.¹¹¹³² KPMG's order is worth $84.4 million if every option is used, against $14.9 million the State Department had committed as of September 18.⁴ The report says it may be updated with future data.¹

• Democrats take control of both chambers of Congress on January 3.²⁰
• On September 16, Senators Wyden, Warren and Whitehouse wrote that the administration had "failed to explain where that money has gone" or whether safeguards prevented it being directed to "politically favored insiders," and asked how much was in the account and for every recipient, including beneficial owners. They warned the administration could direct the money "by encouraging or coercing Venezuela to request specific payments or purchases."¹¹
• Since March 31 the central bank has sold the dollars at a fixed rate it sets; the report does not publish the rate of each sale.¹³²
• State's order with KPMG for a "Venezuela natural resources revenue transparency mechanism," signed April 10, is worth $84.4 million with all options; $14.9 million had been obligated as of the data's September 18 update.⁴
• The report says it may be updated with future data.¹

Most of the account's deposits came from two trading houses, Trafigura and Vitol, Bloomberg reported; Vitol's role is a separate story.¹²⁵

• The two largest depositors, unnamed in the public report, paid in $4.10 billion and $3.44 billion, 61.5 percent of deposits; Bloomberg named them as Trafigura and Vitol.¹²⁵