Venezuela denounces US-ordered ‘forced sale’ of oil company Citgo

A Delaware judge has ordered the sale to settle debts, as Venezuela says US military buildup is targeting its oil reserves.Published On 3 Dec 2025Venezuelan Vice President and Minister of Petroleum Delcy Rodriguez has condemned a US court’s decision to authorise the “fraudulent” and “forced” sale of Venezuelan oil company Citgo in the United States to pay off billions of dollars in debts.“We energetically reject the decision adopted in the judicial process”, Rodriguez said in a statement read on state television about the sale, which the Venezuelan government has always opposed.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Hegseth or Admiral Bradley: Who approved the second Venezuela boat strike?list 2 of 4Trump’s Military Moves & Claims on Venezuelalist 3 of 4Maduro rejects a ‘slave’s peace’ for Venezuela as US ramps up pressurelist 4 of 4Honduras election: Why has Trump threatened to cut off aid?end of listDelaware Judge Leonard Stark last week ordered the sale of Citgo’s parent company to Amber Energy, an affiliate of the hedge fund Elliott Investment Management, for $5.9bn. Elliott Investment Management said in a press release that the court order was “backed by a group of strategic US energy investors”.Citgo, a Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s PDVSA (Petroleos de Venezuela, SA), a state-owned oil company, has been facing claims that it owes more than $20bn to creditors, reflecting the broader financial woes of the South American country under US sanctions, which have targeted its once profitable oil industry.The company’s creditors include the Canadian firm Crystallex, which another US court said was owed $1.2bn by the Venezuelan government in 2019 over Caracas’s 2008 seizure and nationalisation of the Las Cristinas mine, which is rich with gold, diamonds, iron and other minerals.The sale of Citgo comes as Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claims that the US’s recent military build-up in the Caribbean Sea surrounding his country is aimed at seizing Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.A man walks past a billboard of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which reads, ‘Return Citgo to the Venezuelans’, in Caracas on June 27, 2023 [Federico Parra/AFP]While Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven oil reserves, estimated at 303 billion barrels as of 2023, it exported just $4.05bn worth of crude oil in 2023, far below other major oil-producing countries, in part due to US sanctions imposed during US President Donald Trump’s first term.