(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela’s state-owned oil company asked a US judge to pause a court-ordered auction of Citgo Petroleum’s parent until January.
Shares of the parent, PDV Holding, are scheduled to be sold on Nov. 19 to satisfy about $20 billion in claims against the nation and its Petróleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA — some dating back to the nationalization of assets under former President Hugo Chávez.
The process has already been beset by delays. Now lawyers for PDVSA, which is controlled by political opponents of President Nicolás Maduro, are requesting an additional pause until the new year. That’s when the country’s next presidential term starts, and when a potentially new administration could begin its own negotiations with creditors, they said in a court filing Tuesday.
Maduro has managed to cling to power despite evidence presented by the opposition that he lost July’s presidential election against rival Edmundo González. The US and other countries back the opposition’s claim, while even longtime leftist allies of Venezuela in Brazil and Colombia have demanded Maduro produce proof of his claim to victory.
In the filing to Judge Leonard Stark in Delaware, the lawyers also cited additional legal action by some creditors in courts in New York and Texas seeking to take possession of the US-based refiner’s parent. Arguments against PDVSA’s request for the latest pause are due to be filed on Sept. 18.
The complications have already prompted Special Master Robert Pincus, a court-appointed official overseeing the sale, to delay his recommendation of the winning bid, which was due this week. Elliott Investment Management is said to be the leading bidder. An Oct. 1 hearing has been scheduled over the creditor fight.
The sale will close a chapter on a protracted legal battle started by Crystallex International Corp., a Canadian miner whose rights to a gold field were seized by Chávez and which went after Citgo’s parent in court to collect an unpaid arbitration award. Since then, a long list of creditors have joined the process.
The case is Crystallex International Corp. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 17-mc-00151, US District Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).
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