US investors seek to acquire Russia's Rosneft lien in Citgo

A group of US investors is seeking Washington's approval to acquire the nearly 50 percent collateral in US refiner Citgo held by Russia's largest state-owned energy firm Rosneft, one of the investors said. The move would prevent Moscow from seizing a large part of the US refiner in the event of a full-blown default by its current owner, Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. Texas-based Citgo operates a 749,000 barrel per day refining network in the United States.
With Venezuela's economy devastated by five years of recession, President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government has increasingly turned to ally Russia for the cash and credit it needs to survive - offering prized state-owned oil assets in return. Rosneft has snapped up some coveted oil fields in the Opec nation, giving it growing control over Venezuelan crude exports and a stronger foothold in energy markets across the Americas.
Venezuela handed Rosneft the 49.9 percent collateral in Citgo in return for a $1.5 billion loan two years ago. The remaining 50.1 percent of shares in Citgo is collateral to holders of PDVSA's 2020 bond. A steady decline in oil output, Venezuela's main source of hard currency, has contributed to making the country chronically late on its bond payments in recent months.
The Russian state oil company has been under US sanctions put in place in 2014 to punish Moscow for aggression in Ukraine. Some US senators have warned those sanctions could be violated should Russia take a stake in Citgo in the event of a full-blown PDVSA default. Amid the outcry, Rosneft and PDVSA were negotiating swapping the collateral to avoid complications stemming from the sanctions but the talks do not appear to have prospered.
Some Caracas-based oil sources said cash-strapped PDVSA was unable to offer anything attractive enough to Rosneft in return. In the meantime, the group of US investors has applied for a license from the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to assume the lien, according to the US investor and documents seen by Reuters. The investor asked to remain anonymous to avoid compromising a potential deal.