MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela appealing US$ 1.4bn compensation ruling, threatening Citgo

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that Crystallex could attach shares of PDVH, owner U.S. refiner Citgo, to collect a US$1.4 billion compensation

Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is appealing a decision allowing Canadian miner Crystallex to take control of shares in U.S. subsidiary PDV Holdings as part of a 10 year dispute over the state takeover of Crystallex assets, a court filing shows.

 The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware last week ruled that Crystallex could attach shares of PDVH, owner U.S. refiner Citgo, to collect on a US$1.4 billion award to compensate it for the 2008 nationalization.

“Notice is hereby given that (PDVSA) ... hereby appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit from the Order of this Court entered on August 9, 2018,” wrote Samuel T. Hirzel, a lawyer for PDVSA, in a filing posted to the Delaware court’s docket on Friday.

The filing did not provide additional details.

Two years ago, the government of President Nicolas Maduro used 49.9% of Citgo shares as collateral for a US$ 1.5 billion loan from Russian oil major Rosneft. The remaining 50.1% was set aside as collateral for PDVSA’s 2020 bond.

The Crystallex case has been closely watched by investors holding billions of dollars in Venezuelan bonds, which are almost all in default as the OPEC nation struggles under the collapse of its socialist economy.