Venezuela

A growing number of Venezuela-related expropriation claims at U.S. courts pursuing Citgo Petroleum's assets surpass $20 billion, making difficult for the Houston-based refiner to compensate them all, but some payments can be negotiated, said on Wednesday the chief of a board supervising the company, Reuters reported.

A U.S. court of appeals has granted Venezuela a temporary stay preventing six companies from joining a proposed court auction of shares in a Citgo Petroleum parent to enforce judgments for past expropriation of assets, Reuters reported. Since March, creditors including a unit of O-I Glass, Huntington Ingalls Industries, ACL1 Investments, Koch Minerals and mining firms Rusoro Mining and Gold Reserve, have been granted rights to seize shares in the parent of Venezuela-owned refiner Citgo, PDV Holding.

Venezuela will push back a legal deadline on $60 billion of defaulted debt in a bid by President Nicolas Maduro to prevent creditors from filing a wave of lawsuits while he attempts to regain recognition from the U.S., Bloomberg News reported. Maduro’s administration announced Thursday it suspended the statute of limitations on bonds issued by the government and state oil company, PDVSA, according to statements published on government websites. The suspension will be in effect for five years or until the US government lifts economic sanctions that prevent a debt restructuring.

A power struggle and a trail of unpaid oil sales led Venezuela’s ruling elite to purge one of their own inner circle this week as the government tries to recover billions in missing energy revenues, Bloomberg News reported. Energy Minister Tareck El Aissami’s resignation Monday comes after months of close oversight by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, the regime’s most powerful official after President Nicolas Maduro.

Credit cards are becoming increasingly useless in Venezuela because of high inflation and government restrictions, hurting people already struggling to meet daily needs on low salaries, banking industry sources, analysts and consumers said, Reuters reported. The country's government imposed strict lending requirements during Venezuela's economic collapse - allowing banks to lend a maximum of 27% of their cash flow - sending local business owners abroad to seek loans.

Venezuela's state oil firm PDVSA is toughening terms for buyers after a month-long halt to most exports of crude and fuel, demanding prepayment ahead of loadings in either cash, goods or services, company documents showed, Reuters reported. PDVSA's new Chief Executive Pedro Tellechea put the move in place this month. It reinforces measures implemented last year after several buyers skipped out on payments for oil, which provides most of the South American country's income.

Inflation in Venezuela hit 234% in 2022, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Monday, representing a slowdown from the previous year, as the South American country struggles with a deep and lengthy economic crisis, Reuters reported. Rodriguez provided the inflation rate during a meeting with Turkish and Venezuelan business leaders. Venezuela's central bank infrequently publishes economic data, and has not given inflation data since October.

A federal appeals court deferred ruling on whether U.S. bondholders have valid claims over Venezuela’s prized oil refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp., instead asking New York state’s highest court to decide on the disputed $1.7 billion debt, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York asked for guidance on whether bondholders are entitled to seize the controlling stake in Citgo they hold as collateral after Venezuela’s opposition movement stopped making payments on bonds secured by the Houston-based refiner.

An auction schedule to sell shares in Citgo Petroleum's parent company, which could force a breakup of the Venezuela-owned U.S. oil refiner, was approved by a U.S. federal judge and filed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. U.S. District Judge Leonard P. Stark's order sets bidding and sales procedures, hiring of investment banker Evercore Group and directs an approach to the U.S. Treasury Department to seek a decision on any share sale. The Treasury has protected Citgo from creditors by previously not allowing transactions.

Venezuela’s creditors welcomed its potential rapprochement with the U.S. but still face risks and uncertainties in collecting from the South American country’s bankrupt government as its relations with Washington, D.C.'s thaw, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A rollback of U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil points a way to resolving the country’s huge foreign debt obligations, but offers no immediate fix for its longstanding default, according to sanctions experts and other people close to its top external creditors.