HOUSTON, April 30 (Reuters) – The U.S. won’t block a court docket public sale of shares in oil refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp’s (PDVSAC.UL) dad or mum, Justice Division officers informed a federal court docket, paving the best way for a possible seizure by collectors of Venezuela’s most-prized overseas asset.
The U.S. Treasury Division since 2020 has protected Citgo from collectors with claims towards Venezuela, and its change of coronary heart will permit claims to be settled by negotiation or by an public sale of shares in Citgo dad or mum PDV Holding. Citgo is PDV Holding’s solely asset.
Houston-based Citgo is the seventh-largest U.S. oil refiner. It has vegetation in Louisiana, Illinois and Texas, and vitality pipelines and a gasoline distribution community supplying 4,200 retailers within the japanese half of america. It reported a file $2.8 billion revenue final 12 months and could possibly be valued at $13 billion.
A Citgo spokesperson declined to remark.
The Treasury, which has blocked transactions involving Venezuela’s U.S. belongings, “won’t take enforcement motion” to halt the public sale or a negotiated settlement, the Justice Division wrote in a letter filed on Friday in U.S. District Court docket in Delaware. The Treasury must challenge a license to finish any sale.
The choice and a separate Treasury approval recognizing opposition political alliance Unitary Platform is “handing over the Venezuelan firm Citgo to some folks from the opposition, from the Unitary Platform,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro mentioned on Monday.
“We reject and condemn the theft of Citgo by america and the Unitary Platform,” he mentioned, calling the license “an unworthy decision … a direct message of give up.”
Robert Pincus, a court-appointed official who met with the Justice Division and Treasury, urged the court docket to maneuver rapidly “to reap the benefits of CITGO’s latest monetary and operational efficiency and the present state of the refining trade …”
Canadian miner Crystallex Worldwide has a $970 million declare towards PDV Holding that spawned the proposed court docket public sale.
A consultant for Crystallex declined to remark.
Different collectors with no less than $2.6 billion in claims towards Venezuela have obtained conditional approvals to affix the case. Pincus proposed beginning the gross sales course of on Sept. 5 with the very best bid reviewed by the court docket in June 2024.
The court docket has retained funding banker Evercore to evaluate market demand and conduct the sale.
Reporting by Gary McWilliams in Houston
Modifying by Matthew Lewis
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