UPDATE 1-US extends Citgo safety from collectors via April as public sale looms


(Recasts all through, provides particulars)

WASHINGTON/HOUSTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) –

The U.S. Treasury Division on Tuesday prolonged Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum’s non permanent safety from collectors via mid-April as a court-ordered public sale of shares within the refiner’s guardian heads towards a bidding deadline this month.

The three-month extension supplies time for a board supervising Citgo to barter settlements with collectors, however wouldn’t cease the public sale in a U.S. District Court docket in Delaware.

Half of the refiner’s shares are collateral for 2020 bonds issued by Citgo’s final guardian, Venezuela’s state oil firm PDVSA. The holders of these bonds and Venezuela are combating in a New York court docket.

Collectors aiming to money about $24 billion from expropriations and debt defaults have flocked to Delaware to have their court docket rulings and arbitration awards accepted. The public sale may result in change of possession within the seventh-largest U.S. largest oil refiner.

The primary bidding spherical as a part of the sale course of has been set by U.S. Choose Leonard Stark for subsequent Monday, Jan. 22. A closing record of the collectors cleared to take part is predicted to be revealed by the court docket forward of the public sale.

The united statesgeneral license was posted in a discover on the Treasury Division’s web site. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Marianna Parraga; writing by Paul Grant; Modifying by Ismail Shakil)