The first US 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.

The deal kick-started the US president’s controversial plan to sell up to 50mn barrels of Venezuelan oil.

Addison’s donations to Trump’s re-election campaign included $5mn in October 2024 to Maga Inc, according to a database of donors from OpenSecrets, and more than $1mn to two other Trump-aligned Pacs.

Addison joined Ben Marshall, head of Vitol’s US arm, to address Trump during a high-profile meeting with industry chiefs at the White House last Friday. Vitol was the only company with two top officials at the talks.