Rep. Massie Calls Out Trump’s Venezuela Oil Grab

A US judge recently approved the sale of Citgo, the US-based oil refiner that’s owned by a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, to an affiliate of Elliott Management, a firm founded by Singer. Since 2019, the US has frozen all of PDVSA’s assets in the US, cutting off the Venezuelan government from Citgo.

Installing a US-friendly government in Caracas could be extremely beneficial for Amber Energy, the Elliott Management affiliate purchasing Citgo for about $5.9 billion. Though, as things stand now, the Trump administration remains a long way from that goal, as Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, is now serving as the acting president.

According to a report from POLITICO, the Trump administration has asked private US oil firms that seek assets from Venezuela to be prepared to go back into the country and invest heavily. “They’re saying, ‘you gotta go in if you want to play and get reimbursed,’” an oil executive told the outlet.

The report said that the offer has been on the table for 10 days, signaling oil companies may have been aware of Trump’s plans to kidnap Maduro, something Massie suggested in response to Trump saying that US oil firms will go into Venezuela and spend billions.

“It seems obvious from this video that the administration worked with big US oil companies before the attack to line up billions of dollars in capital for developing Venezuela’s oil reserves, yet they couldn’t be bothered to consult Congress,” Massie said.

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Paul Singer, manager of Elliott Investment Management, served as Chairman of the Board of the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research after a 21-year tenure as a trustee, including 17 years as Chair. The institute is an Atlas Network affiliate backed by the Koch Network. While Trump’s administration granted Chevron the waiver, the legal framework enabling CITGO’s auction unfolded under Biden—revealing a choreography that transcends party lines. The ideological scaffolding is not separate from the economic choreography; it’s fused. The CITGO auction reveals the material flank of this architecture.The leading bid comes from Elliott, fronted by Amber Energy, backed by ConocoPhillips and Crystallex. Gold Reserve, a legal shell, created Dalinar Energy to lead its offer—partnered with Koch Inc., a junior creditor. 

Koch’s role in Venezuela predates the CITGO auction. Until its expropriation in 2010, Koch Industries held a 34.99% stake in FertiNitro, Venezuela’s largest nitrogen fertilizer complex. The Chávez government seized the asset (nationalized in October 2010), triggering a $409 million arbitration award in Koch’s favor. That legal battle—fought through offshore subsidiaries and enforced in U.S. courts—foreshadowed the current choreography. Koch’s reappearance in the CITGO auction isn’t incidental; it’s recursive. Their subsidiaries, holding the outstanding FertiNitro judgment, are now part of the consortium backing the Dalinar Energy bid, positioning Koch to finally recoup its expropriated losses by acquiring a stake in CITGO (Koch Minerals Sàrl and Koch Nitrogen International Sàrl are confirmed creditors in the Dalinar consortium, pursuing the $409 million ICSID award from 2017).