USDT payments feature in Polish energy giant’s failed $230M oil deal: FT

The world’s largest stablecoin by market cap, Tether’s USDt, was reportedly used in a failed Venezuelan oil trade that cost Poland’s largest energy giant $230 million in late 2023, according to the Financial Times.

That was after the Caracas-based state oil company, PDVSA, began demanding partial payments in USDT as a workaround to US financial sanctions.

The $230 million was an advance payment paid largely in Tether USDt (USDT) in an oil trade orchestrated by Samer Awad, a former executive at Orlen Trading Switzerland (OTS), a trading subsidiary of Poland’s state-controlled energy giant, Orlen, to acquire 6 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil in November 2023 from state-owned PDVSA, the news outlet reported on Tuesday. 

Orlen sent the $230 million advance payment to Hannon International Middle East, the Dubai-based seller, on Dec. 4, 2023. Hannon approached various crypto brokers and intermediaries to obtain the USDT necessary to buy the crude oil, but most funds disappeared into a maze of crypto transfers, while Orlen only received about $29 million worth of oil before eventually terminating the contract. 

Cointelegraph has approached Tether and Orlen for comment on the matter.

“Hannon became involved in the transaction at Orlen’s request” and was not responsible for the “transaction’s failure,” David McCoy, managing partner at ADG Legal Abu Dhabi, the legal representative of Hannon, told Cointelegraph.