Elliott bids $7.3bn for Citgo assets

An affiliate of private equity group Elliott Investment Management has been selected as the top bidder in an auction for US refiner Citgo, with a bid of $7.286bn.

The special master for the auction, being held in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, will need to make a final formal recommendation the court choose the Elliott affiliate, Amber Energy, pending a 1 October hearing with parties disputing the auction. But a final a hearing to ratify the sale of over 800,000 b/d of refining capacity could be held in November.

Final bids for Citgo's US refineries, lubricant plants, midstream and retail assets were submitted on 11 June, with the auction aiming to satisfy debts owed by the company's parent firm, Venezuelan state-owned PdV.

If the sale to Amber moves forward, following a successful November hearing, it will mark the largest purchase of US refining assets since Andeavor's acquisition by Marathon Petroleum in 2018.

Since 2019 Citgo has operated under a board appointed by the Venezuelan opposition and vetted by the US government after the US rejected Venezuela's 2018 presidential election as illegitimate. But its ultimate parent company, state-owned PdV, remains under control of the Maduro government.