Fiscal Sovereignty in Custody: Who Signs Off on Every Dollar of Venezuelan Oil
Since Executive Order 14373, Venezuela’s oil revenue flows into accounts custodied by the U.S. Treasury and is spent through a monthly budget approved by the State Department. Some ~US$8 billion moved in four months, with audits announced but unpublished. For the investor, the double lock is both a guarantee —less revenue diversion— and a risk —State discretion, opacity and Washington politics— in the same mechanism.
Until January, Venezuela's oil revenue belonged to the State and its spending was discretionary. Since Executive Order 14373, the U.S. Treasury custodies the flow and the State Department approves the monthly budget: fiscal sovereignty was not recovered, it was put under a double lock. For the investor exposed to the license-enabled oil contracts, that arrangement is at once a guarantee and a risk. The operative question is no longer how much oil Venezuela exports, but how much of that revenue remains available, for whom and under whose signature.
On January 9, 2026, the White House issued Executive Order 14373, creating the Foreign Government Deposit Funds. The structure has two features that define everything else. First, ownership: the order states that these funds belong to the Government of Venezuela —including the Central Bank and PDVSA— and that the U.S. holds them "solely in a custodial and governmental capacity, and not as a market participant"; it also shields them from attachment, execution and judicial process, isolating them from creditor litigation. On paper, the money is Venezuelan.
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