The first U.S. sale of Venezuelan crude was to a company whose senior oil trader donated to Donald Trump's re-election campaign and attended a White House meeting with the president last week. John Addison, a senior trader at Vitol who donated about $6mn to political action committees backing Trump's re-election campaign, was involved in his company's efforts to secure a $250mn deal for Venezuelan crude.
Trafigura, another global trading house, also bought $250mn of Venezuelan oil, said two people familiar with the deals. The company spent $525,000 on lobbying in the US in 2024 and 2025, according to OpenSecrets.
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