U.S.-based refiner Citgo Petroleum is a wholly-owned subsidiary of PDVSA, which also owns over 4,000 service stations across the East Coast and Midwest. Photo: Sdijr.
Guacamaya, September 18, 2025. A U.S. judge upheld the validity of PDVSA bonds due in 2020, which was secured by a majority stake in refiner Citgo. The Venezuelan state-owned oil company defaulted on the bonds in 2019.
Citgo is the seventh-largest refining company in the United States, with a capacity to process over 800,000 barrels per day. It has been estimated to be worth up to $13 billion. It is wholly owned by Delaware-based PDV Holding, which is in turn a subsidiary of PDVSA in Caracas.
In 2019, the first Trump administration sanctioned PDVSA as part of a campaign to oust President Nicolás Maduro and handed control of Citgo and other overseas assets to the opposition, then headed by Juan Guaidó.
The opposition has argued that the collateral is not valid. Though it was offered by President Nicolás Maduro, it was not approved by the National Assembly.
In a decision on September 18, Judge Katherine Polk Failla confirmed that the bonds were properly issued, reaffirming a previous ruling she made in 2020.
Bondholders are not, however, the only creditors seeking to seize Citgo, as it is also facing a court-ordered auction to pay off debts owed by the government of Venezuela. Most of the claims arise from companies that faced expropriations during the presidency of Hugo Chávez.
The top bidders currently are Dalinar Energy, backed by a consortium led by miner Gold Reserve, and Amber Energy, a subsidiary of Elliott Investment Management and other partners.
The possible takeover by PDVSA 2020 bondholders of Citgo is still held up by General License 5, issued by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
