Venezuela’s Interim President Delcy Rodríguez and U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright speak to the media in Caracas, Venezuela, February 11, 2026, after attending a meeting marking the highest-level U.S. visit in nearly 30 years to focus on energy policy to an OPEC member country, as the U.S. conducts its first on-site assessment of the oil industry it aims to help rebuild.
Leonardo Fernández Viloria | Leonardo Fernández Viloria REUTERS
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in an interview with NBC News this week that Venezuela’s oil revenue will no longer be deposited into Qatari accounts.
“An account was opened in Qatar to deposit that money and send it from there to Venezuela, and it was controlled by the U.S. government all along,” Wright told NBC News on Thursday.
“Right now, we have an account with the U.S. Treasury. That money is no longer going to Qatar,” the energy secretary said.
The Trump administration took control of Venezuela’s oil sales after capturing former President Nicolas Maduro in a military raid last month. Wright met in Venezuela this week with Interim President Delcy Rodriguez, the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the country in decades.
Wright told NBC News that Venezuela’s revenue from oil sales now exceeds $1 billion. He said the United States has a short-term agreement to sell an additional $5 billion of the country’s crude oil in the coming months. He said the crude has so far been sent to refineries in the United States and to Europe.
Wright said the United States deposited $500 million of the initial oil sales into a Qatari account and then transferred the funds to Venezuela. Congressional Democrats have questioned the transparency and legality of the deal.
Sens. Chuck Schumer (D.N.Y.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced a bill Thursday that would direct the Comptroller’s Office to conduct an independent audit of Qatar’s accounts.
Wright said the United States deposited the initial proceeds with Qatar because the fund faces the risk of being claimed by Venezuelan creditors. Caracas faces tens of billions of dollars in unpaid bills due to a sovereign debt default and the nationalization of oil company assets. exxon mobil and conocophilips.
“Venezuela has so many creditors and they owe so much money that there was some risk in putting the money into a U.S. bank account that was hastily set up so the creditors could freeze that money,” Wright said. “We ultimately want these creditors to get their money back, but that money needs to get to Venezuela quickly.”
The United States faces an additional complication in that it does not officially recognize Rodriguez’s government. President Donald Trump authorized the 2015 opposition-led Congress during his first term in 2019.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 28 that Washington must find a way to resolve the issue of government approval of funds deposited in the United States.
“We have to recognize the government, and we don’t recognize this government,” Rubio said. “We have authorized Congress for 2015, so we have to find creative ways legally to meet that standard.”
Scott Anderson, an international law expert who worked at the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad under President Barack Obama, said Venezuela’s oil revenues entrusted to the United States should theoretically be placed under the control of the opposition Congress with President Trump’s approval.
This raises the question of which government the United States will ultimately recognize and when. Wright told NBC that an election and transition in Venezuela will likely take place during Trump’s term. He said U.S. government oversight of Venezuela’s internal affairs would end at that point.
“The problem is the process of getting there,” Wright said. “Ultimately, what the long-term political leadership in Venezuela is will depend on Venezuela.”
