Maduro’s regime sold its stake in an oil refinery at a much lower price than it paid

PDVSA gave up its 49% stake in a Dominican refinery in a swap for some of its unpaid obligationsthe Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Thursday the Venezuelan state oil company.

The transaction represents a small advance between the oil company and its creditors, as the American sanctions, which aim to remove dictator Nicolás Maduro from power, complicate efforts to restructure billions of dollars in debt that PDVSA and the regime defaulted in the midst of an economic meltdown.

As part of the agreement, PDVSA’s subsidiary, PDV Caribe, first exchanged its shares in the Refidomsa refinery, 34,000 barrels per day (bpd), for bonds held by Patsa Ltd, a unit of Dominican cocoa company Grupo Rizek. The company acted as a “facilitator” of the transaction, the ministry said.

Patsa immediately sold the shares to the Dominican government, which already owned the remaining 51% of the refinery. The operation was for 74 million euros (approximately 88.1 million dollars). Today, the refinery is 100% owned by the Dominican government.

The deal was well below the $ 135 million PDVSA paid for the minority stake in Refidomsa in 2010, as part of the efforts of the late former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez to strengthen the influence of the OPEC nation in the Caribbean region through petro-diplomacy.

The Dominican Republic’s finance ministry said the sanctions against PDVSA had complicated Refidomsa’s ability to access credit and invest in expansion projects., adding that he informed the US government of the deal and that Washington did not oppose it.

Despite the fact that the operation was at a much lower price than he paid, the Chavist dictatorship celebrated the event and described the business as a success. “The Bolivarian government of Venezuela and PDVSA successfully conclude the negotiation of REFIDOMSA, and with this the financial commitments contracted with the creditors are honored, emphasizing our solvency and our responsibility, despite the criminal blockade of the United States”, he added. he writes on his twitter account. Tareck El Aissami, Minister of People’s Power for Petroleum.

US blacklisted PDVSA in 2019 in an attempt to reduce cash flow to Maduro, whom he describes as a dictator and accuses of corruption, in addition to having manipulated his re-election in 2018.

Neither PDVSA nor the Venezuelan communications ministry immediately responded to requests for comment. Maduro calls the sanctions a “criminal blockade” and accuses them of Venezuela’s economic problems.

(With information from Reuters)

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