US Handled $12.26 Billion of Venezuela’s Oil Revenue, KPMG Report Shows

The United States handled more than $12.26 billion in revenue from Venezuelan oil and other natural resources in the first nine months of 2026, according to a report prepared by the accounting firm KPMG and made public by the State Department on Thursday.

The report, dated 29 October and sent to Congress in early November, sets out how buyers of Venezuelan oil paid into an American-controlled custody account — and how almost all of the money was then released to the interim government in Caracas.

Reuters reported that the arrangement was established after US forces seized then-President Nicolas Maduro in January and brought him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges.

What the KPMG report shows

The figures cover 1 January to 30 September 2026. Of the $12.26 billion deposited in the account, more than $12.1 billion came from the sale of oil, refined petroleum products and natural gas. The rest came from other natural resources, including gold, minerals and fertiliser.

By the end of September, $12.11 billion — nearly 99 per cent of the total — had been disbursed, leaving a balance of about $168.6 million in the account. The account also earned roughly $12 million in interest over the period.

The report states that the funds “remain sovereign property of Venezuela” but are “held pending disposition for public, governmental, or diplomatic purposes” as determined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. In practice, that means Washington retains the final say over when money is released and who receives it.

How the custody account works

Under the arrangement, buyers of Venezuelan crude pay into a US Treasury account, and the interim government in Caracas then asks Washington to approve withdrawals. The government now in power is led by former allies of Maduro who work closely with the United States.

The account, known as the Venezuela Custody Account, was first held in Qatar before being moved to Citibank in New York in late January. KPMG assisted the State Department in administering it, including by tracking transactions and applying financial-integrity measures.

The firm does not describe itself as an auditor, and the report is not the formal audit of Venezuelan oil finances that State Department officials had promised earlier this year.

Where the money went

The New York Times, which reviewed the document before it was made public, reported that about $11.7 billion was used to support the bolívar through foreign-currency auctions at Venezuelan commercial banks. About $130 million went to pay the Venezuelan government’s foreign bills, mostly debts to other governments and international organisations.

The report does not identify the ultimate beneficiaries of those auctions, and it is not clear whether the funds returned to Venezuela stayed there. The $11.7 billion figure is broadly in line with an estimate from the Venezuelan consultancy Síntesis Financiera, which calculated that the government spent $12.3 billion on foreign-currency auctions over the same nine months.

The names of the 20 companies that bought the oil and gold were redacted from the publicly released version of the report. The New York Times reported that most of the purchases came from the commodity trading giants Trafigura and Vitol.

What the report does not show

The $12.26 billion figure does not capture all of Venezuela’s export revenues for the period, and the report offers no full accounting of where every dollar ended up once it left American control.

Still, it is the fullest public picture yet of an unusual arrangement: a foreign country’s oil income passing through Washington’s hands, with the United States deciding the terms of its return.

The arrangement has already reshaped Venezuela’s oil sector. ExxonMobil signed a deal to return to Venezuela after 19 years, the first step back for a major American oil company since the industry was nationalised.

Whether the custody account continues, and how much scrutiny Congress applies to it, is now likely to become part of the wider debate over the administration’s handling of Venezuela — and over who ultimately benefits from the country’s oil wealth.