The Trump administration’s first sale of Venezuelan oil to a U.S. buyer landed with a familiar name: a company linked to one of the president’s biggest campaign donors.
The initial deal, worth about $250 million, went to Vitol, the world’s largest independent oil trader. A senior Vitol trader involved in securing the contract has poured millions into political action committees backing Donald Trump’s re-election and met with the president at the White House just days before the agreement was finalized.
That senior oil trader is John Addison, and one of Trump’s most generous supporters. According to donor records compiled by OpenSecrets, Addison gave $5 million in October 2024 to Maga Inc and more than $1 million to two other Trump-aligned political action committees. In total, his donations tied to Trump’s re-election effort amounted to about $6 million.
The White House, however, swatted down any suggestion of an ethical breach. “The media’s continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are a tired attempt to distract from the incredible work only this president is capable of achieving,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told the Daily Beast.
The sale to Vitol marked the opening move in the administration’s plan to offload as much as 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil under U.S. control, the Financial Times reports. The White House has said it intends to dominate Venezuela’s oil industry “indefinitely” following the capture of longtime strongman leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this month, along with the establishment of a naval embargo and a push for Western oil companies to invest heavily in the country.
Addison was involved in Vitol’s efforts to secure the Venezuelan crude contract and attended a high-profile White House meeting with Trump and oil industry executives last week. He appeared alongside Ben Marshall, the head of Vitol’s U.S. arm, making Vitol the only firm represented by two senior officials at the talks.
During the meeting, Addison told Trump that Vitol would work to secure the best possible price for Venezuelan oil sold by the United States. “So that the influence you have over the Venezuelans will ensure that you get what you want,” Addison said. “
Thank you, thank you. Good point,” Trump responded.
Vitol said Addison’s political donations were made in a private capacity and were not connected to the company’s business dealings. The White House said Trump is, as always, acting in Americans’ best interests.
“President Trump always does what is in the best interest of the American people, such as brokering this historic energy deal with Venezuela immediately following the arrest of narcoterrorist Nicolás Maduro,” Rogers added in his statement.
The administration has said it plans to require the “majority” of Venezuelan oil under U.S. control to be sold to American buyers, according to one administration official. Energy Secretary Chris Wright bragged this week that the United States had managed to sell Venezuelan crude at prices 30 percent higher than those achieved by Maduro’s government just weeks earlier, when U.S. sanctions forced Caracas to accept steep discounts.
The oil industry was a major source of campaign cash for Trump during the 2024 race. At a meeting with executives at his Mar-a-Lago estate last year, Trump promised to roll back regulations if industry leaders backed his campaign.
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