Government of Venezuela will not recognize “forced sale” of Citgo

The government of Venezuela assured this Monday that it “does not and will not recognize” what it considered a “forced sale” of Citgo Petroleum, the US subsidiary of the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).

Last week, the deadline set by a US court, which organizes the auction of Citgo shares, expired for bidders to present their offers in a judicial process that seeks to pay creditors for expropriations and debt defaults in Venezuela for some 21.3 billion Dollars.

“Citgo is an important strategic asset of the Venezuelan national oil company PDVSA. Its forced sale constitutes a new episode of the multiform aggression carried out by the institutions of the United States against Venezuela,” stated a statement released this Monday by the Venezuelan vice president, Delcy Rodríguez.

“The government of Venezuela and PDVSA were excluded from the judicial sale of CITGO and were prevented from defending their rights before the US courts,” the text continued, in which it accuses the National Assembly elected in 2015, and several political leaders, including them Juan Guaidó, of being complicit in the process.

The government of President Nicolás Maduro warned that it will continue to adopt all the measures at its disposal to avoid the “definitive dispossession” of the company and reiterated that it reserves the exercise of actions against any company or individual that acquires the shares, facilitates the purchase or negotiate with the assets of Citgo, the seventh largest refiner in the US.

According to agency sources Reutersat least five groups of investors have submitted bids in the auction.

Last Friday, Venezuelan Oil Minister Pedro Tellechea asked the US court to stop the auction, which has attracted renowned investors and energy trading companies such as Vitol, ConocoPhillips, and Koch Industries.

Citgo was spun off from the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA in 2019 by order of the National Assembly in 2015, after the US imposed sanctions against the Venezuelan government and has since operated under US protection.

Its three U.S. refineries process up to 807,000 barrels of oil per day and the company has generated $5.26 billion in combined net profits over the past nine quarters.

The ongoing court process allows bidders to continue structuring financings, “complete” credit offers and potentially increase their bids by at least $100 million to outbid a competing bid.

Auction results are expected to be announced in mid-July, according to the court’s calendar. A July 2 hearing set by the judicial official overseeing the process, Robert Pincus, could provide new details about the offers and investors.

Pincus’ attorney declined to comment to Reuters on the procedures and results of the second bidding round.

[Con información de Reuters]

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