Two global trading houses that brokered an opaque deal with the Trump administration this month to sell Venezuelan oil were previously prosecuted for bribery schemes involving oil sales elsewhere, court records show, underscoring concerns by anti-corruption experts and lawmakers that the arrangement is vulnerable to abuse, the Washington Post reported. The administration granted confidential licenses to Vitol and Trafigura in early January to sell Venezuelan oil with little independent oversight.

A proposed reform of Venezuela's oil law is enough to encourage companies working in the country to expand and for some new entrants to begin investing, but deeper reforms would be necessary to attract the $100 billion the U.S. says is required to revamp the nation's energy sector, foreign and local executives and lawyers said, Reuters reported. The U.S. has taken control of Venezuela's oil exports and revenue following a military incursion to capture President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month, and a naval blockade to stop oil shipments on sanctioned vessels since December.

U.S. control of Venezuela's oil exports has ensnared barrels that had been servicing debt to China, lining up another potential showdown between the two superpowers that could further complicate the South American country's path out of default, Reuters reported. Around a tenth ​of Venezuela's $150 billion foreign debt pile is estimated to be loans from China that the OPEC member was paying in oil cargoes — until the U.S. seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro earlier this ‌month. Debt experts said the ramifications of China's claim on the cargoes and any clash with the U.S.

The U.S. is in talks with Chevron Corp., other crude producers and the world’s biggest oilfield service providers about a plan to quickly revive output in Venezuela at a fraction of the estimated $100 billion cost for a complete rebuilding, Bloomberg News reported. Oilfield contractors such as SLB Ltd., Baker Hughes Co. and Halliburton Co. would focus their initial efforts on repairing or replacing damaged or outdated equipment and refreshing older drilling sites, according to senior administration officials who asked not to be identified discussing internal plans.

Four Venezuelan banks were notified this week by the ​country's government that they will split $300 million of oil revenues deposited in an account in ‌Qatar, enabling them to sell dollars to Venezuelan companies that need foreign exchange to pay for materials, two financial sources and an analyst said, Reuters reported. The injection of foreign capital comes after weeks of tightening supplies of dollars, as the U.S. seized Venezuelan oil tankers and hit the country's top revenue flow.

As U.S. President Donald Trump moves quickly to put together a $100 billion effort to revive Venezuela's oil industry, the administration has yet to finalize the fate of the crown jewel of the country's foreign assets, U.S. refining company Citgo Petroleum, Reuters reported. Houston-based ​Citgo has been tied up in the lengthy auction of its parent, PDV Holding, organized by a Delaware court to pay billions of dollars to creditors for ‌debt defaults and expropriations in Venezuela.

Nicolás Maduro helped make tether the world’s dominant stablecoin. And with the former Venezuelan leader now sitting in a Brooklyn jail, the cryptocurrency’s central role in his nation’s economy is back in the spotlight, the Wall Street Journal reported. Tether emerged as a vital tool for the state-run oil company to sidestep sanctions, serving as the currency for settling oil transactions. It also has offered a financial lifeline to everyday Venezuelans racked by the tumbling value of their home currency, the bolivar.

Western oil companies have been fighting to recoup tens of billions of dollars that they say Venezuela owes them — debts that could play a prominent role in efforts by President Trump to compel U.S. businesses to produce more oil in the country, the New York Times reported. Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips top the list of oil companies with big financial claims against Venezuela, whose president, Nicolás Maduro, was captured by U.S. forces over the weekend in Caracas.

The Trump administration plans to control future sales of Venezuelan oil and hold the proceeds in U.S. accounts, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said, making the clearest statement yet on Washington’s strategy to bring the impoverished nation’s crude to market and control its most valuable resource, Bloomberg News reported. Wright, who spoke at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. conference in Miami Wednesday, said initially the barrels would come from crude Venezuela is holding in storage, which has been filling up amid the U.S. blockade and threatening to force some production off line.

For activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management, Nicolás Maduro’s swift exit comes at an auspicious time, the Wall Street Journal reported. A U.S. judge in November backed a roughly $6 billion bid by Elliott for Citgo Petroleum, the refining firm owned by Venezuela’s state-run company Petróleos de Venezuela, known as PdVSA, in a forced sale to satisfy creditors. Citgo, based in Houston, owns a U.S. network of refineries, pipelines and terminals that some analysts have said could be worth between $11 billion and $13 billion. The deal was controversial in Venezuela.