ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance speaks, as Vitol Americas CEO Ben Marshall looks on, during a U.S. President Donald Trump’s meeting with oil industry executives, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 9, 2026.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Commodities trade houses Trafigura and Vitol have agreed to
provide logistical and marketing services for the sale of
Venezuelan oil at the request of the U.S. government, a
Trafigura spokesperson told Reuters by email.
Reuters first reported on Thursday that the two companies
were in talks with the U.S. government for such deals, citing
sources familiar with the talks.
The commodities traders were competing with U.S. oil
producers and others for what are expected to be lucrative
agreements for exports of Venezuelan oil. U.S. officials have
said they are seeking to control Venezuelan oil sales indefinitely after the U.S. captured the South American country’s
President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday.
Trafigura will load its first vessel of Venezuelan crude
exports to the U.S. next week, its Chief Executive Richard
Holtum told U.S. President Donald Trump at a gathering of oil
executives at the White House earlier on Friday.
Holtum and Trafigura did not provide further details.
A Trafigura spokesperson said the company is in full
compliance with applicable sanctions. Trafigura has all the
necessary licenses it needs for transactions related to
Venezuela, they added.
Geneva-based Vitol has also secured a preliminary special license for imports and exports of Venezuelan oil, Reuters reported
on Thursday.
“We’re here to ensure that you’re going to be able to move
all of this oil all around the world,” John Addison, a senior
Vitol executive said at Friday’s White House event.
Vitol’s Head of Americas Ben Marshall thanked Trump for
the opportunity to work with the U.S. and Venezuelan government
to bring the South American country’s crude oil to the market at
a fair price.
“Vitol has a long history of working on complex energy
transactions requiring agile logistics, operations and finance.
We are pleased to deploy our expertise to help flow PDVSA’s
crude oil and products to market,” Marshall said in a statement
to Reuters.
Published on January 10, 2026
