US TREASURY · FINANCIAL REGIME
U.S. Department of the Treasury
The U.S. Department of the Treasury defines, through OFAC and its executive orders, the financial regime that conditions Venezuela's oil revenue and sanctioned assets.
VE Pulses
21The World Bank's first loan to Venezuela since 2005 waits on the country paying its overdue debt to the IDB and CAF
Venezuela has not received a World Bank loan since 2005; the bank now has a portfolio, an amount and a first operation for water and electricity, and the next step is the country's: catching up with the other multilateral lenders.
Venezuelan methanol enters an OFAC license when it was already almost a quarter of US imports
Metor, the Jose plant in which the state holds 37.5%, kept selling in the United States while sanctions were in force. Since Monday the license names the product and lets the state partner in, with its payment routed to the Treasury account.
TotalEnergies signs with PDVSA without being one of the six companies Washington authorizes by name
The annex that names authorized operators in writing has not added a company since June. On Saturday one that is not on it signed at Miraflores, and no fields, amounts or timetable were disclosed.
Venezuelan crude reaches the United States at a record pace and Washington will not say what the Treasury holds
Last week it was 782,000 barrels a day, the largest volume of the year. What those cargoes pay is held in custody by Washington, and on Tuesday the man who holds it appeared before Congress without giving the balance.
Eni replaces PDVSA at Junín-5: the field produces 5% of what was promised for 2018
Since 2010 the field was run by a joint venture with PDVSA holding 60% and the spending shared. The contract Eni signed on Wednesday takes it out of the operation and, on the terms January's law set, leaves the state carrying no debt: the operator is paid a percentage of metered barrels.
Selling Venezuelan coal without sanctions risk now means paying into an account the Treasury names
The mining licenses spoke of minerals and gold and named a single company, Minerven. The three issued on Wednesday add coal and Carbones del Zulia, the state firm that mines it in the Guasare basin in the country's west.
Five months separate "Maduro's inner circle" from "the highly respected Interim President"
The first phrase titles the action by which the U.S. Treasury sanctioned her in September 2018, alongside the then president’s wife. The second comes from Friday’s announcement. Between them, an administrative deletion from the list on April 1.
The law governing a contract with PDVSA stops being decided in Washington
Since January the U.S. permit required that contract to be drafted under the law of a U.S. state. Eight licenses rewritten yesterday strike the requirement and leave standing only the seat where a dispute is fought: the United States, the United Kingdom, France or Singapore.
Washington clears the rebuilding of Venezuela's network and leaves the capital waiting on another license
Through Thursday the telecommunications license covered carrying traffic; since Friday it covers installing, repairing and operating the plant itself. Putting capital into it still needs a permit that does not exist yet.
A multinational pays US$30 million for a Venezuelan factory, not for a promise of recovery
For the first time since the turn, a strategic buyer is paying for installed capacity and market in Venezuela, not for the right to develop them.
Money is already betting on Venezuela's recovery before the real economy feels it
In Venezuela, private capital, the bond market and exchange-rate policy are all positioning on a recovery that hasn't happened yet: they value what they expect, not what exists.
A war that isn't its own lifts Venezuela's crude just when it most needs cash
A foreign war puts a premium on Venezuelan oil just as the country goes out to raise capital to rebuild; its inflation, which doubled in June, warns that the relief is the State's cash box, not the citizen's pocket.
Venezuela has decreed the opening of its entire oil chain; the fiscal fine print and control of the money are missing
Venezuela decreed an opening that unlocks the whole chain but leaves the reservoir in the State's hands; what it does not settle is the fiscal fine print or control of the money: crude under Treasury custody and gold in London.
The missing regulation: Venezuela completes the framework of its oil opening, 20 days before the deadline
Venezuela reworks the rules of its oil and its exchange rate to attract capital, while the United States' footprint inside the country turns physical: from the crude income under Treasury custody to the Marines in Maiquetía's control tower.
The only thing the quake did not touch in Venezuela is the oil; everything else now leans more on Washington
The quake did not change the weight the U.S. already had on Venezuela; it made it more visible. The emergency added U.S. military and logistical presence —accepted by Caracas— over a country whose oil till, untouched by the quake, is already managed in part from abroad.
The U.S. blockades Venezuela's sanctioned crude by sea and presses on its oil law, as a Middle East truce cheapens the barrel
Washington controls all four levers of Venezuela's oil revenue —cash, rules, route and now the price— so its record export volume decides less and less.
Venezuela opens its power sector to private capital, sends Rodríguez to India for petrodollars and hires lawyers for its defaulted debt
Venezuela sells its oil at the fastest pace in years, yet opens to private capital the electricity it cannot sustain, seeks capital in India and adds lawyers to its debt rework: the flow grows, the capital to run it does not appear.
June opens with the first formal technical IMF-Venezuela session in six years — and with the opposition setting the electoral date as a condition
The doors the international financial system pushed open over the weekend open a technical channel — but the electoral calendar, which the street demands, remains without a date.
Weekly close: Washington halts prosecutors and delists tankers, the AN installs the Friendship Group with the U.S. and the opposition signs the Panama Manifesto
Washington clears Delcy Rodríguez's legal path, the Chavista parliament institutionalizes the rapprochement and the opposition signs in Panama to negotiate her exit — normalization runs on three lanes that do not coordinate.
Exxon sits with the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela goes to Houston for inputs and Darren Woods crosses Canadian heavy oil data with the Faja
Exxon stops being a rumor and turns into bilateral meetings and operational engineering, Saudi Arabia cedes its Indian share and Caracas opens a Drilling School — three movements that fix the upstream timeline.
Caracas redesigns itself in 90 days, India receives 319 kbpd from Venezuela and LNG Energy commits US$200M to upstream
The State apparatus reengineering, the oil flow to India and the return of U.S. private capital run at once on the same second-quarter timeline — and the operational question is whether the three are coordinated or each responds to a different principal.
Analysis
12IDB and CAF: Venezuela seeks loans while its oil money sits at the U.S. Treasury
Venezuela owes more than $3 billion in arrears to the IDB and CAF, which will not lend to it until they are cleared, and the World Bank ties the first $2 billion of a package of up to $5 billion to those same arrears. The proceeds of its oil, more than $13 billion taken in through July 2026 according to Trump, settle in a U.S. Treasury account whose use the Secretary of State decides, and no one has publicly proposed using it to pay those arrears.
Dragon field: Venezuela's gas for Shell and Trinidad waits on three keys
Venezuela licensed Dragon to Shell and NGC in 2023 with a 20% royalty and a floor of 45% of gross revenue. Under OFAC's General License 50C, those payments would go to the Treasury fund whose disbursement the State Department decides, and Trinidad and Tobago admits it has no fiscal framework for imported gas. Three scenarios and their signals.
SENIAT: Venezuela collects 37.6% more in dollars and 25.8% more in real terms
SENIAT reported $1.198 billion in September 2026, converted at the central bank's official rate, which rose less than inflation. Deflated by the consumer price index, the increase is 25.8%. March was the year's peak, April and July were not published, and it is not on record whether the totals include oil taxes that OFAC sends to the Treasury fund.
Venezuelan methanol: OFAC names it when it was already 23% of US imports
The September 28 licenses change one thing: the petrochemicals annex adds methanol. Metor was already selling in the United States because the state holds only 37.5%; what comes in now is the state partner, collecting in Treasury accounts and toward the destination that pays least.
Venezuela: the spoils of the century — who collects for the oil and the gold
The United States needs Venezuelan crude and still set the terms; the money goes into Treasury accounts and in eight months neither government has published the balance. For the country that invented the fifty-fifty and founded OPEC, that is the most uncomfortable fact.
PDVSA 2020 bond: the Citgo collateral is valid and still cannot be enforced
In September 2025 a New York court ended six years of litigation and held the notes backing 50.1% of CITGO Holding validly issued. What keeps the collateral frozen is a Treasury license that has been deferring its own entry into force since October 2019 and is now on the letter Y.
OFAC licenses in Venezuela: contracts with PDVSA no longer need U.S. governing law
The requirement arrived in January, loosened in June and vanishes today from eight licenses at once. What did not move in those seven months: the seat of disputes, the routing of payments through the Treasury, and the same six oil companies cleared to operate.
The doctrine that made PDVSA attachable won in court and stalled at the Treasury
A 1983 Supreme Court test allowed the oil company to be treated as the Republic itself: the creditor need only prove control, not fraud. On that basis the PDV Holding shares were auctioned and a US$5.892 billion bid approved. The order was entered on November 29; closing still awaits a license that has not been issued and two unresolved appeals.
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.
OFAC reopens Conviasa and Venezuela's telecommunications, but keeps CITGO frozen until August
For the second time running, OFAC renews protection of CITGO's collateral for under seven weeks —it used to do so for half a year. It does so on the same June 18 it opens two low-friction lanes: supply to Conviasa (GL 59) and telecommunications and mail (GL 24A). The signal is sequence: Treasury grants everyday reconnection and meters the strategic asset.
Venezuela's Mining Opening: OFAC Reopens Gold to Western Trade — With the Cash in the U.S. Treasury
OFAC's June 10 amendment wave rewrote seven Venezuela licenses. The two mining ones —GL 51B and 54A— authorize trading and servicing Venezuelan gold via CVG Minerven, but route payment through the U.S. Treasury, bar new joint ventures and exclude China.
General License 52: OFAC Unlocks PDVSA for U.S. Companies and Rewrites the Rules of Venezuelan Oil
GL 52 is the broadest authorization Washington has issued on Venezuela since sanctions were imposed. It allows established U.S. companies to operate directly with PDVSA without a specific license. Contracts under U.S. law, payments to Treasury, and exclusion of Russia, Iran, China, and Cuba. Venezuelan oil wasn't set free — it changed wardens.
Sector Briefs
02Chevron Q1 revela 1–2% del CFO (cash flow operativo) en Venezuela; producción cruza 1.23M bpd y GL 5W señala coordinación con Citgo
Brief VE-ENERGY-UPSTREAM mayo 2026. El upstream entra en fase de ejecución contractual: exportaciones cruzan 1.23M bpd en abril (máximo en 7 años, +14% intermensual), Chevron en su call Q1 (1 may) confirma Venezuela = 1–2% del CFO (cash flow operativo) con cuenta por cobrar de $1.5B en amortización a 2027 y sin compromiso de capex incremental antes de clarificación fiscal. GL 5W (4 may) extiende protección bono PDVSA 2020 hasta 19 jun — extensión más corta en dos años, señal de coordinación Treasury con proceso judicial Citgo en Delaware. Repsol Petroquiriquire, Eni Junín-5 y Maurel & Prom operativos bajo GL 50A.
Production crosses 1 million bpd and majors sign: upstream closes Q1 with complete framework and binding power ceiling
VE-ENERGY-UPSTREAM April 2026 brief. Hydrocarbons reform passed (Jan 29), OFAC GL 52 (Mar 18), formal returns from Eni, Repsol and Chevron in April. Production 1.095M bpd, exports >1M for the first time in 6 months. India overtakes China as top buyer at 343K bpd. Revenues channeled to U.S. Treasury custody via EO 14373. The binding ceiling remains electrical (covered in VE-ENERGY-DOMESTICO).
OFAC Licenses
12GL 46E — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Oil and Petrochemical Products
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to lift, export, sell, store, transport and refine Venezuelan-origin oil —and to import Venezuelan-origin petrochemical products into the U.S.— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and PdVSA. As of September 28, 2026, the petrochemical annex lists methanol; until then it listed only fertilizers and their inputs. Contracts must route disputes to the U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore, and payments to blocked persons go to the Treasury account. Supersedes GL 46D.
GL 52C — Transactions Involving Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to engage with PdVSA and its entities in transactions otherwise prohibited by E.O. 13884 and 13850. As of September 14, 2026, it allows PdVSA officials on the SDN List to execute and sign those contracts in their official capacity, and expressly excludes any transaction altering the governance of PDV Holding, CITGO Holding, or CITGO Petroleum. The forum requirement (U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore) and Treasury payment routing remain. Supersedes GL 52B.
GL 51D — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Coal or Minerals, Including Gold
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to export, sell, store, purchase, deliver and transport Venezuelan-origin coal or minerals —including gold— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela, Carbones del Zulia S.A. (Carbozulia) and CVG Minerven, including processing and refining. As of September 2, 2026, coal enters the same perimeter that already covered gold. Conditions are unchanged: disputes in the U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore, and payments routed through Treasury. Supersedes GL 51C.
GL 50C — Oil or Gas Sector Operations of Listed Entities
Authorizes transactions related to oil or gas sector operations in Venezuela of the entities listed in the Annex and their subsidiaries —BP, Chevron, Eni, Maurel & Prom, Repsol and Shell, the same six as in June—, with Treasury routing of payments, taxes and royalties. As of August 27, 2026, the contract must only route disputes to the U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore. Supersedes GL 50B.
GL 52B — Transactions Involving Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to engage with PdVSA and its entities in transactions otherwise prohibited by E.O. 13884 and 13850. As of August 27, 2026, the contract must only route disputes to the U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore; Treasury payment routing remains. Preserves the E.O. 13808 prohibitions on bonds and debt. Supersedes GL 52A.
GL 51C — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Minerals, Including Gold
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to export, sell, store, purchase, deliver and transport Venezuelan-origin minerals —including gold— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and CVG Minerven, including processing and refining. As of August 27, 2026, the contract must only route disputes to the U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore. Treasury payment routing remains. Supersedes GL 51B.
GL 46D — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Oil and Petrochemical Products
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to lift, export, sell, store, transport and refine Venezuelan-origin oil —and to import Venezuelan-origin petrochemical products into the U.S.— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and PdVSA. The contract no longer needs to be governed by U.S. law: it must only route disputes to the U.S., U.K., France, or Singapore. Treasury payment routing remains. Supersedes GL 46C.
GL 50B — Oil or Gas Sector Operations of Listed Entities
Authorizes transactions related to oil or gas sector operations in Venezuela of the entities listed in the Annex and their subsidiaries, subject to U.S./allied law and forum and Treasury routing of payments —including royalties and taxes. Supersedes GL 50A.
GL 51B — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Minerals, Including Gold
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to export, sell, store, purchase, deliver and transport Venezuelan-origin minerals —including gold— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and CVG Minerven, including processing and refining. Subject to U.S./allied law and forum and Treasury payment routing. Supersedes GL 51A.
GL 52A — Transactions Involving Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to engage with PdVSA and its entities in transactions otherwise prohibited by E.O. 13884 and 13850, subject to U.S./allied law and forum and Treasury payment routing. Preserves the E.O. 13808 prohibitions on bonds and debt. Supersedes GL 52.
GL 46C — Trade in Venezuelan-Origin Oil and Petrochemical Products
Authorizes an established U.S. entity to lift, export, sell, store, transport and refine Venezuelan-origin oil —and to import Venezuelan-origin petrochemical products into the U.S.— in transactions involving the Government of Venezuela and PdVSA, subject to U.S./allied law and forum and Treasury payment routing. Supersedes GL 46B.
GL 5W — PDVSA 2020 8.5% Bond
Authorizes certain transactions related to the PDVSA 2020 8.5% bond on or after June 19, 2026. Supersedes GL 5V and extends the regime initiated with GL 5 (2019) protecting CITGO Holding from bondholder execution on collateral. The shortest extension in the series (45 days) signals Treasury coordination with the CITGO sale process in the Delaware court.
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