Citgo has three U.S. refineries, plus pipeline and terminal assets. Its network refines 800,000 barrels a day at sites in Louisiana, Texas, and Illinois. It has branding and fuel marketing deals with 4,000 independently owned retail outlets throughout the East Coast, Midwest, and South.
Despite Citgo’s 115-year history, the company has been quietly and entirely owned by Venezuela and its state-owned oil company PDVSA since 1990. The company became a target in the legal fight to pay off creditors who lost oil assets, mining rights, and more when they were expropriated under Venezuela’s former socialist ruler, Hugo Chavez, almost 20 years ago.
Elliott and Amber CEO Gregory Goff declined comment for this story.
The other primary beneficiary in the Citgo sale is oil giant ConocoPhillips, which holds more than half of the creditors’ roughly $20 billion in claims. The Chavez regime seized Conoco’s oil assets in 2007.
President Trump is pushing Conoco, Exxon Mobil, and others to return to Venezuela to rebuild the infrastructure and pump more oil, although there’s hesitancy in the industry because of the high costs, political uncertainty, and weak oil prices. Trump is schedule to meet with top oil executives today.
