Drop Site
🇻🇪 NEW: US to keep over one-third of proceeds from first Venezuelan oil sale, distribute rest to Venezuelan banks, reports suggest. The initial US-controlled sale of Venezuelan oil was valued at roughly $500 million, according to Reuters. About $330 million of that is expected to be distributed inside Venezuela for health and infrastructure projects, meaning the United States is retaining a little over one-third of the proceeds from the first shipment of the 30–50 million barrels President Trump says Venezuela has agreed to transfer to the US. Five Venezuelan private banks have been authorized to receive those funds from the Banco Central de Venezuela: Bancamiga, Mercantil, Banco Nacional de Crédito (BNC), Banesco, and Provincial, according to Bitácora Económica. The transfers depend on a license currently being finalized by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. Oil revenues will be deposited into a BCV account at Qatar National Bank, whose US correspondent is JPMorgan Chase, requiring OFAC approval before funds can be distributed to other Venezuelan banks. In a speech to the Parliament today, Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said the revenues will be placed into two sovereign funds: one for social protection, including hospitals, schools, food, housing, and workers’ income; and a second for infrastructure and services such as water, electricity, and roads. She also ordered the creation of a technological platform to ensure transparency, saying the funds must be free of “bureaucracy, corruption, and indolence.” Economist Francisco Rodríguez of CEPR notes the arrangement carries major legal implications: under Section 25B of the Federal Reserve Act, US banks can only process transactions involving Venezuela’s central bank if the State Department certifies its representatives. That certification, Rodríguez writes, can only be issued if the US recognizes the government those officials serve, implying de facto recognition of the Rodríguez government and potentially undercutting the authority of the 2015 National Assembly and the opposition-appointed ad hoc PDVSA board.