December 3, 2025 — The Venezuelan government issued a fiery condemnation on Tuesday of a U.S. federal court decision authorizing the forced auction of CITGO Petroleum Corp., the oil-rich nation's crown-jewel asset in the United States, branding it a "vulgar and barbaric dispossession" orchestrated by Washington to plunder resources belonging to the Venezuelan people. The ruling, handed down last week by U.S. District Judge Leonard P. Stark in Wilmington, Delaware, greenlights the $5.9 billion sale of shares in PDV Holding Inc. — CITGO's indirect parent company — to Amber Energy, an affiliate of the activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management. This marks a pivotal escalation in a protracted legal saga rooted in billions of dollars of unpaid debts tied to expropriations under the late President Hugo Chávez and subsequent financial maneuvers during President Nicolás Maduro's tenure.
The auction process, which has dragged on for over eight years, stems from more than $20 billion in creditor claims against Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA), Venezuela's state-owned oil giant and CITGO's ultimate owner. Key plaintiffs include Canadian mining firm Crystallex International Corp., which won a $1.2 billion arbitration award in 2019 over the Chávez-era seizure of its Las Cristinas gold mine, and U.S. energy major ConocoPhillips, seeking compensation for nationalized oil projects. These judgments, enforced in U.S. courts under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, have transformed CITGO — a Houston-based refiner processing 829,000 barrels per day across facilities in Louisiana, Illinois, and New Jersey — into collateral for Venezuela's sovereign defaults.
In a televised address from Caracas, Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who also serves as Oil Minister, lambasted the proceedings as a "fraudulent process" and "a new episode in the multifaceted aggression" waged by the United States against her country. "We energetically reject the decision adopted in the judicial process," Rodríguez declared, echoing state media reports that described the sale as an outright theft enabled by "influence peddling" from the Trump administration's era. She accused U.S. authorities of "intentionally and illegally excluding" the Maduro government and PDVSA from the litigation, citing Washington's non-recognition of Maduro's legitimacy as a "crude excuse" to bypass due process. Rodríguez vowed that Caracas "does not and will not recognize the sale of CITGO," framing it as a violation of international economic freedoms and a direct assault on Venezuela's sovereignty.
The controversy traces back to 2017, when U.S. courts began attaching CITGO shares to satisfy arbitral awards from the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an arm of the World Bank. Exacerbated by U.S. sanctions imposed under Executive Order 13850 in 2019 — which targeted PDVSA for alleged corruption and human rights abuses — Venezuela's oil exports plummeted, leaving the nation unable to service its debts. Amid the chaos, the Trump administration recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president, empowering a U.S.-backed board to manage CITGO since 2019. This parallel governance structure, which Maduro's regime deems illegitimate, has funneled an estimated $24 billion in dividends away from Caracas, funds Rodríguez claimed were diverted to "finance violent actions" by opposition extremists.
Elliott's victory in the auction, announced on November 25, 2025, followed a fierce bidding war that saw rival offers from CVR Energy and a Gold Reserve Inc. subsidiary, Dalinar Energy, which had proposed up to $7.9 billion but was edged out for lacking "certainty of closing." Judge Stark, in a 162-page opinion, praised Amber's bid as the "best overall combination of price and feasibility," incorporating $2.13 billion to settle claims from holders of PDVSA's defaulted 2020 8.5% bonds and $500 million toward Gold Reserve's mining expropriation award. Sources close to Elliott indicate the firm, known for activist campaigns at Marathon Petroleum and Phillips 66, plans to retain CITGO's core assets — including three refineries, 43 terminals, and 3,300 employees — while overhauling management for efficiency gains. "We're committed to partnering with the CITGO team to build on its historic foundation," Amber stated in a release, signaling a post-acquisition board refresh led by refinery veterans like former Valero CEO Greg Goff.
Yet, the deal remains precarious. It hinges on a specific license from the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), whose General License 7C — authorizing CITGO operations amid sanctions — has been renewed monthly since 2019 but faces expiration on December 20, 2025. OFAC's General License 5S, extended in June 2025, further suspends bondholders' collateral enforcement until that date, adding regulatory uncertainty. Lawyers for Maduro's government and Gold Reserve filed appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on December 1, challenging Stark's order and alleging procedural biases, including $170 million in fees paid to court advisors with Elliott ties. "This is not the end of the road," warned CITGO's opposition-appointed supervisory board, which has managed the refiner through sanctions-induced turbulence.
Back in Venezuela, the backlash has ignited domestic fury. The Maduro-controlled National Assembly, in a unanimous extraordinary session on Tuesday, approved a resolution denouncing the "flagrant dispossession" and urging the executive to pursue "total restitution" through international forums. Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez, brother of Delcy, proposed revoking Venezuelan citizenship for five "ringleaders" of the "gigantic CITGO theft": exiled opposition figures Juan Guaidó, Dinorah Figuera, Carlos Vecchio, Horacio Medina, and attorney José Ignacio Hernández. Citing Article 32 of the Constitution — which allows denaturalization for those acting against the nation — Rodríguez accused them of colluding with U.S. "imperial interests" to siphon CITGO's $4–5 billion annual profits for "fascist violence." First Vice President Pedro Infante, heading a 2024 investigative commission, implicated 351 individuals — including 94 from the 2015–2020 opposition-led Assembly — in the alleged plunder, vowing sanctions under the Extinction of Ownership Law.
This citizenship revocation push echoes Maduro's October 2025 Supreme Court petition against opposition leader Leopoldo López for allegedly inciting U.S. invasion, a move critics decry as authoritarian overreach akin to Nicaragua's under Daniel Ortega. López, exiled in Spain, dismissed it on social media as Maduro's bid "to silence dissent," underscoring how CITGO's fate has become a flashpoint in Venezuela's polarized politics. Opposition heavyweight María Corina Machado, barred from office and targeted by Rodríguez for her role in the 2019 board handover, called the rhetoric "desperate deflection" from Maduro's economic mismanagement.
Economically, the stakes are immense. CITGO, the seventh-largest U.S. refiner, generated $2.5 billion in profits last year amid global fuel shortages, sustaining Venezuela's illusion of oil prowess despite PDVSA's domestic output languishing at 700,000 barrels per day — a fraction of its 3 million peak. Losing it could deepen Venezuela's hyperinflation and shortages, already fueling 2024's mass exodus of over 1 million migrants. Yet, for creditors, the sale promises partial relief: proceeds will prioritize judgments like Crystallex's, though bondholders — holding $6.3 billion in PDVSA notes — may receive mere pennies after settlements.
Geopolitically, the saga amplifies U.S.-Venezuela tensions. Maduro has linked the auction to a purported U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, claiming it's a ploy to seize Venezuela's Orinoco Belt reserves — the world's largest. With OFAC's clock ticking toward December 20, analysts warn of potential disruptions: a denied license could halt CITGO's imports, spiking U.S. gasoline prices, while approval might embolden further sanctions if Maduro escalates. Gold Reserve, still appealing, has urged OFAC for post-sale clarity on bond suspensions, fearing a "value-destroying" deadlock.
As appeals loom and citizenship threats hang over exiles, CITGO's transfer embodies Venezuela's unraveling: a once-mighty oil empire reduced to courtroom collateral, where ideological warfare overshadows fiscal reckoning. For now, Rodríguez's defiance resonates in Caracas streets, where billboards still proclaim "Return CITGO to the Venezuelans." But in Houston's refineries, the pumps keep turning — indifferent to the sovereignty squabbles thousands of miles south.
