$230M Venezuelan Oil Deal Using USDT Payments Fails, Causing Losses for Polish Energy Giant
In late 2023, Poland’s largest energy company Orlen suffered a $230 million loss in a failed oil purchase deal from Venezuela involving payments in Tether’s USDt stablecoin. The transaction, arranged via its trading subsidiary Orlen Trading Switzerland, used USDT as a workaround for U.S. sanctions on Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA. However, much of the funds vanished through a complex web of crypto transfers. Orlen ultimately received crude oil valued at only about $29 million, leading to legal investigations and criminal indictments against former executives.
Background and Structure of the Deal
In November 2023, Orlen Trading Switzerland (OTS), a subsidiary of Poland’s state-controlled energy giant Orlen, arranged a purchase of 6 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil from the state-owned PDVSA. Due to U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, PDVSA demanded partial payments in the stablecoin Tether (USDT) as a means to circumvent financial restrictions.
Orlen made an advance payment of $230 million on December 4, 2023, to Hannon International Middle East, a Dubai-based seller responsible for sourcing and facilitating the crude oil shipment.
Crypto Payment Flows and Missing Funds
Hannon sought out various crypto brokers and intermediaries to convert the $230 million into USDT. It reportedly secured about $80 million USDT via a Dubai financial services firm, paying a $400,000 commission.
Subsequently, Hannon transferred $135 million USDT to Horizon Global, also based in Dubai. However, Hannon claimed Horizon only delivered $85 million in USDT, resulting in a $50 million shortfall and disputes between the parties.
Additionally, $30 million was sent to Gold Mar International Trading, incorporated in Dubai, from which Hannon recovered just $21 million USDT in February 2024.
In January 2024, Hannon employees handed over two USB sticks containing $60 million and $50 million USDT to brokers in Caracas, Venezuela, and later granted access to another $11 million USDT to a different Caracas broker.
Outcome and Legal Repercussions
By March 8, 2024, Orlen’s tanker finally loaded approximately 500,000 barrels of fuel oil valued at around $28.8 million. Orlen Trading Services terminated the contract with Hannon on March 28, 2024, after receiving only a fraction of the crude.
In January 2025, the Warsaw Regional Prosecutor’s Office launched a probe into the oil contracts related to Orlen Trading Services, estimating damages of 1.5 billion Polish zloty ($378 million).
In August 2026, three former senior managers of Orlen and Orlen Trading Services were indicted for causing these losses through crude oil deals. The accused deny wrongdoing and face up to 25 years in prison.
Why it matters
This story highlights the significant financial risks involved when using cryptocurrency, particularly USDt stablecoin, for international deals with sanctioned countries. Faced with limitations imposed by sanctions on traditional payments, companies resorted to crypto as a workaround, involving complex and opaque transfer chains. In this case, it resulted in the disappearance of nearly the entire $230 million advance. The incident underscores the critical need for rigorous due diligence and trustworthiness checks when employing crypto payments, and raises important questions about regulation and law enforcement in the cryptocurrency space in cross-border trade.
Prepared from the source material with AI-assisted editing and checked against the supplied facts.
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