Trump megadonor’s firm gets first Venezuelan oil deal – FT

Commodity trader Vitol will begin selling crude seized by the US following the attack on the South American country earlier this month

The US has awarded its first contract to sell seized Venezuelan oil since launching an attack on the South American country and abducting its president, Nicolas Maduro. The contract went to trading firm Vitol, one of whose executives was a major donor to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, according to Financial Times.

The Trump administration has stated that securing control over Venezuelan oil production and exports is the central pillar of its strategy. After Maduro’s kidnapping and rendition on January 3, Trump said Washington would “run” Venezuela during a transitional period and needs “total access… to the oil and to other things in their country.” 

According to FT, the initial cargo was awarded to Vitol at a closed auction held by the US Department of Energy. The sale is part of a broader plan to market up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude now under US control, the paper noted.

A senior Vitol trader, John Addison, who met Trump at the White House last week, was reportedly involved in his company’s efforts to secure the $250 million deal for Venezuelan crude. Addison donated more than $6 million to political action committees supporting Trump’s reelection campaign, FT wrote. Sources told the paper that energy trader Trafigura has also purchased about $250 million worth of Venezuelan crude under the same program.

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According to various US media outlets citing an unnamed Trump administration official, more sales are expected to be finalized in the coming days and weeks.

The crude being sold was taken from shipments intercepted under Operation Southern Spear, a US military effort that has seen tankers linked to Venezuela boarded in the Caribbean and other regions. Washington has framed the action as part of a wider clampdown on sanctioned oil flows from Venezuela, Iran, and Russia.

The US military and Coast Guard have taken six vessels in recent weeks in international waters, including the Russian-flagged Marinera northwest of Scotland. Moscow has condemned the seizure of the oil tanker as a violation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and has called for Maduro’s immediate release.