In November 2025, a Delaware federal judge\u00a0ordered\u00a0the sale of the company to Elliott Management and its affiliate startup, Amber Energy. The court ruled that Citgo could be held liable for the Venezuelan government\u2019s debts, and approved a sale that would send\u00a0$9\u00a0billion\u00a0to\u00a0pay off\u00a0a small number of Venezuela\u2019s\u00a0numerous\u00a0creditors. All that was needed to close the sale was\u00a0a green light\u00a0from the\u00a0Trump administration, at which point Citgo and its U.S. refineries would come under American ownership for the first time in\u00a0nearly 40\u00a0years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the weeks after\u00a0the dramatic ouster of\u00a0former Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u00a0in early January,\u00a0that approval\u00a0appeared\u00a0close at hand. Energy Secretary Chris Wright applauded the\u00a0forced\u00a0sale to Elliott and its GOP megadonor founder,\u00a0Paul Singer.\u00a0It was seen as a win-win deal.\u00a0The\u00a0court-ordered sale\u2014opposed by the Venezuelan government\u2014would reduce Venezuela\u2019s massive debt pile while\u00a0giving a U.S. company the opportunity to expand the Gulf Coast\u2019s refining capacity, including churning more Venezuelan crude, which could help drive down gas prices.\u00a0\u201cI think that\u2019s fantastic,\u201d\u00a0Wright said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But eight months later, that\u00a0approval\u00a0is\u00a0nowhere in sight. The Treasury Department has extended Citgo\u2019s protection from the sale\u00a0six times\u00a0since January,\u00a0raising questions over whether\u00a0November\u2019s\u00a0court-ordered sale\u00a0to one of Trump\u2019s wealthiest allies\u00a0could be undone by geopolitics.\u00a0After all, a now U.S.-friendly interim Venezuelan government still doesn\u2019t want to give up its crown-jewel assets in Citgo, and the Trump administration may be more amenable to that sentiment from Caracas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s an open question now as to whether or not the Citgo sale is a requirement,\u201d said Richard Nephew, a sanctions\u00a0expert\u00a0at Columbia University\u2019s\u202fCenter on Global Energy Policy\u00a0who helped broker sanctions\u00a0negotiations in the\u00a0Obama administration.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Keeping\u00a0in place Citgo\u2019s\u00a0protection from being sold avoids disrupting\u00a0the\u00a0ongoing cooperation between the U.S. and Venezuela,\u00a0said Jose Ignacio Hernandez, a Harvard law professor and former special counsel for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaid\u00f3.\u00a0The\u00a0Trump administration\u2019s public policy towards Venezuela\u00a0is the\u00a0three-step strategy espoused by Secretary of State Marco Rubio\u2014stabilization,\u00a0recovery\u00a0and transition.\u00a0\u201cAny license authorizing the [Citgo] sale order will definitely disrupt these three phases,\u201d\u00a0Hernandez said.<\/p>\n
Hedge fund versus state oil<\/h2>\n
The\u00a0ongoing\u00a0delay allows Venezuela to strengthen its\u00a0last-ditch\u00a0effort to save its\u00a0cash cow\u00a0from Elliott\u2019s clutches.<\/p>\n
Attorneys\u00a0representing\u00a0Venezuela and\u00a0its\u00a0state-owned oil company, PDVSA, appealed\u00a0Delaware\u00a0District Judge Leonard Stark\u2019s\u00a0sale order, arguing the court-appointed neutral\u00a0adviser,\u00a0who designed the\u00a0auction\u00a0process\u00a0and selected Elliott\u2019s winning bid,\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0so neutral.\u00a0The appeals court should vacate the sale order,\u00a0PDVSA\u00a0and\u00a0a\u00a0rival bidder\u00a0argue, because the\u00a0adviser\u00a0hired outside consulting firms\u00a0that\u00a0had earned $170 million in fees from clients tied to Elliott.\u00a0Oral arguments are scheduled for October.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0ruled favorably to\u00a0the Venezuelan\u00a0parties\u00a0in\u00a0nearly a\u00a0decade of attempts. The higher court has a streak of\u00a0affirming Stark\u2019s rulings or\u00a0dismissing\u00a0Venezuela\u2019s challenges to his decisions, causing skepticism among several legal analysts about\u00a0Venezuela\u2019s prospects for victory.<\/p>\n
A denial would place the fate of Citgo, its three U.S. refineries, and its pipeline network solely in the hands\u00a0of the\u00a0Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which can\u00a0grant a sale license and deprive Venezuela of its most valuable asset, or deny the license and allow Citgo to be a part of the nation\u2019s revitalization. So long as\u00a0the decision hangs in the balance,\u00a0the Trump administration\u00a0can wield Citgo as\u00a0a\u00a0key\u00a0piece\u00a0of leverage\u00a0in its dealings with Venezuela\u2019s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does Trump gain if he keeps the\u00a0[Citgo]\u00a0protection in place? He gets a bargaining chip that is\u00a0very powerful, that\u00a0says,\u00a0\u2018Don\u2019t deviate from this path or you\u2019ll pay for it,\u2019\u201d\u00a0said Jose Enrique Arrioja, senior director of policy at the Council of the Americas. \u201cIt gives you big leverage in negotiating with that partner.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Treating Citgo as\u00a0a bargaining chip\u00a0may prove useful when dealing with an interim government still led by the Chavista political machinery, which has ruled Venezuela and defied U.S. hegemony in the region since the turn of the century.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rodriguez,\u00a0whose\u00a0hold on power depends on support from the Trump administration,\u00a0has\u00a0all but\u00a0become a Trump proxy for now as she navigates this delicate diplomatic moment. Yet the Chavismo political apparatus she commands\u00a0remains\u00a0nearly intact.\u00a0In March,\u00a0Rodriguez appointed Asdr\u00fabal Ch\u00e1vez, cousin of the former\u00a0president, Hugo Ch\u00e1vez,\u00a0to lead\u00a0Citgo\u2019s parent company\u00a0despite his U.S. visa being revoked in 2018.\u00a0Recently, OFAC issued a rule preventing any further\u00a0leadership\u00a0changes to\u00a0Citgo and its parent companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, the interest is trying to make sure Venezuelan oil is getting to market, and we get our cut,\u00a0and that Delcy is in a position to do whatever we want,\u201d Columbia University\u2019s Nephew said.<\/p>\n Reminders of Citgo\u2019s dual citizenship abound outside the company\u2019s corporate headquarters in Houston, where a Venezuelan flag flies alongside the stars and stripes.<\/p>\n Citgo, a company founded 116 years ago in Oklahoma, saw 50% of its stake purchased by PDVSA in 1986 and the remainder in 1990 to secure its access to the U.S. market.\u00a0The Venezuelan national oil company quickly upgraded Citgo\u2019s two Gulf Coast refineries to process Venezuela\u2019s distinct grade of heavy sour\u00a0oil.\u00a0<\/p>\n By the early 2000s, Citgo was refining\u00a0roughly one-third\u00a0of all Venezuelan oil\u00a0exports\u00a0to the U.S., transforming the nation\u2019s\u00a0raw,\u00a0peanut butter-like crude into fuels,\u00a0petrochemicals\u00a0and asphalt.\u00a0Citgo\u2019s refineries in Texas, Louisiana, and Illinois were producing\u00a0roughly 5%\u00a0of the United States\u2019 refined products, creating a reliable stream of cash for\u00a0Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s government.\u00a0<\/p>\n But as Venezuela\u2019s debts mounted, Citgo and its profitability became a target for the nation\u2019s\u00a0numerous\u00a0creditors.\u00a0Companies whose assets were seized by the Ch\u00e1vez regime\u2014including Citgo\u2019s\u00a0Houston\u00a0neighbor, ConocoPhillips\u2014sought control of Citgo shares after convincing U.S. courts that the company is\u00a0an\u00a0\u201calter ego\u201d\u00a0of the Venezuelan government. Bondholders, too, are\u00a0owed\u00a0shares of the company after Maduro\u2019s subsequent government\u00a0failed to\u00a0make payments on\u00a0loans.<\/p>\n After years of legal battles, all those creditors\u00a0may be on the verge of recouping some of their losses.\u00a0The Delaware court\u2019s\u00a0auction\u00a0awarded\u00a0control of\u00a0Citgo to Elliott and\u00a0its newfound affiliate, Amber Energy.\u00a0Judge Stark accepted the hedge fund\u2019s bid to pay\u00a0$5.9 billion\u00a0to\u00a0a handful of\u00a0creditors whose assets were expropriated under Ch\u00e1vez, and\u00a0up to\u00a0$2.8\u00a0billion\u00a0to\u00a0holders of\u00a0the\u00a0defaulted\u00a0bonds.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n For a company whose profits reached\u00a0nearly\u00a0$3 billion\u00a0in 2022, the\u00a0deal\u00a0was\u00a0widely considered\u00a0a bargain\u00a0for Amber, albeit not without risk. And it attracted\u00a0immediate condemnation from the Venezuelan government. Days after the bid was approved\u2014and a month before a U.S. invasion\u2014Rodriguez went on\u00a0television\u00a0calling the sale \u201ca\u00a0vulgar and\u00a0barbaric\u00a0expropriation of a Venezuelan asset in U.S. territory through a fraudulent process.\u201d<\/p>\n For all its importance to the Venezuelan\u00a0government, the\u00a0company\u00a0is\u00a0increasingly critical to the U.S. refining sector.<\/p>\n At a time when U.S. refiners are pushing their limits to supply a global economy juggling two overlapping crises\u2014the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Ukraine\u2019s continuous drone strikes on Russian refineries\u2014Citgo\u2019s refining assets are proving critical in a tightening market of record-high diesel and gasoline costs.<\/p>\n It\u2019s\u00a0little wonder\u00a0why\u00a0Secretary Wright, tasked with strengthening U.S. energy security,\u00a0is interested in\u00a0shifting\u00a0Citgo\u2019s ownership\u00a0to\u00a0the\u00a0U.S. Doing so would\u00a0sever\u00a0the company\u2019s\u00a0ties to a nation with\u00a0a\u00a0track\u00a0record\u00a0of political instability and mismanagement of\u00a0its state oil company.\u00a0Elliott\u2019s Amber Energy\u00a0pledged\u00a0to\u00a0sink\u00a0$11 billion\u00a0into modernizing and expanding Citgo\u2019s operations, including a\u00a0$1 billion\u00a0expansion of its Texas refinery that would produce an\u00a0additional\u00a02 billion gallons\u00a0of fuels\u00a0per year.\u00a0All\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0needed, Amber executives have said, is a single government approval from the Treasury Department to \u201cset Citgo free.\u201d<\/p>\n Elliott Management and Amber Energy declined to comment\u00a0specifically for\u00a0this story.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n However, there are\u00a0equally compelling reasons to protect Citgo from the hedge fund takeover,\u00a0analysts said.\u00a0The company\u2019s value has inflated\u00a0since\u00a0the Iran war sent\u00a0fuel prices\u00a0through the\u00a0roof.\u00a0Like many refiners, Citgo\u2019s\u00a0income quintupled\u00a0between the first and second\u00a0quarter\u00a0this year.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0nearly\u00a0$9 billion\u00a0auction\u00a0price is a terrible deal for the embattled country, Venezuelan\u00a0parties\u00a0say.\u00a0In May, PDVSA attorneys\u00a0cited a valuation of over\u00a0$15 billion\u00a0thanks to increasing refining industry revenues. Anything less, they argue, would diminish Venezuela\u2019s ability to stick to the three-step\u00a0stabilization,\u00a0recovery,\u00a0and transition\u00a0strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTransferring it to a U.S. investor would be depriving Venezuela of a strategic asset, and to solve what?\u201d said Julian Cardenas Garcia, a member of\u00a0PDVSA\u2019s\u00a0ad hoc board.\u00a0\u201cWe turned Citgo from a company that was sunk in debt into a profitable company now with excess cash and operational excellence.\u00a0You\u2019d\u00a0be using Citgo as a disposable asset instead of using Citgo as a part of the solution.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Venezuela\u2019s sovereign debt load was most recently pegged at\u00a0$240 billion, composed of government bonds, expropriation claims, unpaid trade debts, and loans from China,\u00a0Russia,\u00a0and development banks.\u00a0There is a wide range of Venezuelan assets that can service these liabilities, from state-owned enterprises\u00a0to developed oil fields. As the nation\u2019s crown-jewel energy asset, Citgo\u2019s sale may be one of the most immediate ways Venezuela can reduce its debt. Yet its auction price only would resolve\u00a0a negligible 4% of\u00a0the\u00a0debt pile, at the cost of\u00a0an economic lifeline that could be instrumental to the nation\u2019s financial recovery.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n If Elliott were to\u00a0acquire\u00a0the company before\u00a0the nation undergoes its debt restructuring, it would get hold of an asset before it flows into a pool of assets that could be\u00a0properly\u00a0divided.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey would get the cherry on top, and everybody else would have to do with the rest of the cake,\u201d said\u00a0Martin\u00a0Muhleisen,\u00a0a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who previously implemented debt relief frameworks for the International Monetary Fund. \u201cThat would not be helpful, because [other creditors] would really try to squeeze Venezuela even harder for what\u2019s left.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGiving Citgo away too easily without broad integration into the process would be horrible for Venezuela,\u201d\u00a0Muhleisen\u00a0said.<\/p>\n There may be\u00a0another,\u00a0subtler\u00a0reason\u00a0for the Trump administration\u00a0to protect Citgo from creditors, one that has less to do with Venezuela and more to do with\u00a0Trump\u2019s ambition to\u00a0strengthen presidential power.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n If the 3rd Circuit\u00a0ultimately\u00a0affirms\u00a0the\u00a0Delaware court\u2019s sale order, the\u00a0fate of Citgo\u00a0is at the discretion of the Trump administration.\u00a0Any outcome other than granting a license for the sale runs the risk of\u00a0attracting\u00a0a\u00a0lawsuit\u00a0from Amber or creditors,\u00a0potentially\u00a0setting\u00a0the administration on a collision course with a constitutional challenge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n This challenge could claim that the Trump administration\u2019s possible denial of the license interferes with the Delaware court\u2019s ability to enforce its sale order,\u00a0creating a separation-of-powers dispute\u00a0between the executive and judicial branches, legal and policy experts said.<\/p>\n Such a case could play into Trump\u2019s broader push to expand executive power under\u00a0the\u00a0\u201cunitary executive theory\u201d\u2014the legal\u00a0paradigm\u00a0the administration has invoked\u00a0for unfettered control over congressionally created\u00a0independent\u00a0regulatory\u00a0agencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m absolutely sure the Trump administration will try desperately to move the case towards the Supreme Court, which, under current circumstances, will probably decide in favor of President Trump,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cThat will be another reason for the administration to preserve Citgo.\u00a0[It] could be a case to reinforce the unitary executive theory.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n At this stage, Citgo shifts from the geopolitical chessboard to the domestic one.\u00a0\u201cIt\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0have anything to do with Venezuela. It has everything to do with domestic politics,\u201d\u00a0Hernandez said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Trump #wrest #Citgo #Elliott #Management #hand #Venezuela<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Early this year, it seemed all… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8505,4166,273,5812,2444,2679,357,5177,8504],"class_list":["post-5424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-citgo","tag-crude-oil","tag-donald-trump","tag-elliott","tag-hand","tag-management","tag-trump","tag-venezuela","tag-wrest"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Citgo](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2271000759.jpg?format=webp&w=1440&quality=75\"\/)
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nCitgo\u2019s dual status<\/h2>\n
Citgo\u2019s U.S. value<\/h2>\n
Trump\u2019s leverage<\/h2>\n