Venezuela arrives with Crystallex to protect Citgo

(Reuters) – Venezuela solved a $ 1.2 billion arbitration claim aimed at preventing a creditor from confiscating its most valuable foreign asset, Citgo Petroleum Corp's refining unit. , in the United States, according to Canadian court documents.

Settlement with Crystallex International Corp suspends court order of Canadian mining company to take control of Citgo as a means of collecting compensation decided in arbitration award against Venezuela, which with interest has risen to $ 1,400 million.

On November 23, Venezuela made an initial payment of $ 425 million, mainly on "liquid securities", according to a submission to the Ontario Court of Justice, Crystallex has been operating since 2011 under the protection of creditors.

The country of South America has agreed to pay the remaining amount in installments at the beginning of 2021. If Venezuela fails to credit by January 10 at the latest the guarantee for the remaining payments, Crystallex can relaunch the legal proceedings.

On December 20, a US judge in Delaware had to hear arguments to auction Citgo from its parent company, PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned oil company. In the United States, Citgo operates three refineries that are a key destination for Venezuelan oil exports. Their value is expressed in billions of dollars. Reuters Review.

While Venezuela was plagued by an economic crisis and sanctions from the United States and suspended the payment of its debt by tens of billions of dollars, Venezuela has sought to maintain control of Citgo . The government made payments last month to investors holding bonds backed by Citgo shares.

Crystallex and Venezuela reached an agreement last year. The South American country managed to maintain the payment agreement after transferring $ 75 million.

Venezuela expropriated a Crystallex gold mining project in 2011, which resulted in the arbitration decision in 2016.

As Venezuelan debt defaults accumulated and US sanctions squeezed the country, creditors began to take over PDVSA 's holdings abroad as a way to recover their money.

ConocoPhillips announced in October that it had received $ 345 million in cash and raw materials from PDVSA in the third quarter under a quota agreement to collect an arbitration award in the amount of $ 345 million. $ 2 billion.

Rusoro Mining Ltd reached an agreement with Venezuela in October, five months after the Canadian mining company filed documents in the United States to sue Citgo and obtain an arbitration award of $ 1.3 billion. dollars for an expropriated gold mine.