Page 10 - LatAmOil Week 29 2021

LatAmOil VENEZUEL A LatAmOil

OFAC extends term of licence

barring seizure of Citgo shares

THE Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), District Court for the District of Delaware that
a division of the US Treasury Department, has involved the US major ConocoPhillips, the New
extended the term of a licence that bars the York-based hedge fund Tenor Capital Manage-
seizure of shares in Citgo, a US-based affiliate ment and other creditors.
of Venezuela’s national oil company (NOC) The court has already appointed a “special
PdVSA, by holders of a PdVSA bond that master” to oversee the process of selling Citgo
matured last year. to compensate debtholders. However, it has
The US government has been protecting not proceeded with the sale and has deferred to
Citgo, the owner of three US refineries with a OFAC, saying it needs Washington’s permission
combined throughput capacity of 760,000 bar- to go ahead.
rels per day (bpd), in this manner since 2019. At Questions about Citgo’s fate have posed a
that time, OFAC began issuing licences that sus- dilemma for the US government. On the one
pended previous directives permitting PdVSA hand, officials in Washington are sympathetic
bondholders to enforce their claims by taking to the claims of bondholders, who have few
the Citgo shares that served as collateral for the avenues of securing payment in light of the US
securities issue. sanctions regime that restricts trade with Vene-
Since then, the agency has repeatedly issued zuela.; on the other, US authorities are also sym-
new licences to extend this protection. However, pathetic to the Venezuelan political opposition,
the latest version has a term of only four months. which has managed to wrest control of Citgo
(By contrast, OFAC issued a six-month licence away from its parent company, PdVSA. ™
in January of this year.)
In a statement, OFAC acknowledged bond-
holders’ concerns about securing payment for
the securities issue, which is now in default. But
it also urged the investors to pursue an agree-
ment on “proposals to restructure or refinance
payments.” Additionally, it suggested that they
“apply for a specific licence”, saying that it would
“have a favourable licensing policy toward such
an agreement.”
Owners of the PdVSA securities have filed
several suits in the US court system with the aim
of gaining access to Citgo shares as compensa-
tion for the default. According to Argus Media,
the “most advanced” of these is a case in the US Citgo controls three refineries with a capacity of 760,000 bpd (File Photo)

GUYANA
EEPGL surveying route of GTP pipeline

ESSO Exploration and Production Guyana Ltd of 1,568.9 square km that is about 22.2 km from
(EEPGL), an affiliate of the US-super-major shore, the notice said. It noted that the survey
ExxonMobil, was due to begin surveying the project was due to be completed on October 15.
route of the pipeline that will pump associated The offshore surveys will complement
gas from the Liza-1 and Liza-2 sections of the another two geophysical and geotechnical sur-
Stabroek offshore block to shore this week. veys that EEPGL is conducting along the banks
Guyana’s Maritime Administration Depart- of the Demerara River and along the Demerara
ment (MARAD) said in a notice to mariners that coast. The ExxonMobil subsidiary began those
EEPGL was scheduled to begin geophysical and surveys on July 8 and is due to complete them
geotechnical surveys along the planned pipeline by October 31, according to a separate MARAD
route on July 20. The surveys will cover an area notice.

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 29 22•July•2021