Where Did 18 Trillion Won in Venezuelan Oil Sales Go? U.S. Use of Funds Sparks Controversy

Controversy is growing as the United States has not disclosed how it used 13 billion dollars (approx. 19.3 trillion won) secured through Venezuelan oil sales this year, the Financial Times reported on the 21st (local time).

Based on oil export data and international oil prices, the newspaper estimated that the U.S. has generated about 13 billion dollars in revenue from Venezuelan oil sales since the beginning of this year.

The Donald Trump administration has practically managed Venezuela's oil exports after ousting President Nicolas Maduro in January and establishing Vice President Delcy Rodriguez as the new leader.

The Trump administration's stance is that it merely plays the role of storing and managing the proceeds from Venezuelan oil sales.

The U.S. State Department announced in April that about 3 billion dollars (approx. 4.5 trillion won) in oil sales proceeds had been remitted to Venezuela, and that accounting firm KPMG was auditing the related accounts.

At the time, the State Department promised to release quarterly reports, but additional data has not yet been made public.

The Venezuelan government launched a website to disclose the oil sales proceeds managed by the U.S., but the only record released so far is that 300 million dollars (450 billion won) was remitted in March.

Some are also raising questions over whether the U.S. is failing to properly remit the oil sales proceeds.

Francisco Rodriguez of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) in Washington analyzed, "The fact that Venezuela's growth rate remained at only 2.5% in the first quarter of this year despite an increase in oil revenue is likely because the U.S. did not remit the full amount of the oil sales proceeds."

Voices demanding transparency in fund management are growing louder in the U.S. Congress as well.

Republican Representative Maria Elvira Salazar (Florida) urged that the details of how the oil sales proceeds were used must be disclosed.

Democratic Representative Joaquin Castro (Texas) criticized, "Congress is not being provided with any information."

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is reportedly set to utilize a portion of the oil sales proceeds in the recovery process for Venezuela, which suffered massive damage from a major earthquake last month, but the specific scale has not been disclosed.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.