Venezuela state oil company PDVSA has scrapped plans to sell Citgo Petroleum Corp. Via Bloomberg, Venezuela Finance Minister Rodolfo Marco Torres said this weekend PDVSA would continue to invest in its U.S. refining operations rather than sell them. Analysts believe low refining margins and unscheduled downtime at some Citgo refineries have given potential buyers pause. An analyst at Eurasia Group said earlier this month a sale of Citgo could have undermined PDVSA’s medium-term cash flow and jeopardized its U.S. market position.
Reuters reported earlier this month the bank PDVSA hired to manage the potential sale asked interested firms to submit an additional round of offers. HollyFrontier, Valero, Western Refining, Reliance Industries and PBF Energy were said to have shown interest in buying Citgo.
Citgo’s U.S. operations include refineries in Lemont, Ill., Lake Charles, La., and Corpus Christi, Texas.
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