Wedoany.com Report-Nov. 26, On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark in Delaware approved a $5.9 billion bid from Amber Energy, an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management, to acquire PDV Holding, the parent company of Citgo Petroleum. The ruling clears the path for the court-supervised sale of the Venezuela-owned entity.

A drone view shows the Citgo Sign illuminated over Kenmore Square in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., September 22, 2025.

Judge Stark overruled remaining objections to the Amber bid and directed the court-appointed special master to submit a proposed sale order in time for signing by Monday. He set a Friday deadline for any final report on unresolved material issues.

"The Amber Bid offers the best overall combination of price and certainty of closing of any bid submitted," Stark wrote in his opinion, describing the auction process as fair and equitable.

The decision marks a reversal from the special master's August recommendation. A late surge of improved offers shifted the outcome in favor of Amber Energy. A key strength of its proposal is a $2.1 billion cash payment to holders of a defaulted PDVSA bond that is secured by 50.1% of Citgo equity, a step expected to remove a major ownership obstacle.

"We look forward to working with the talented Citgo team to strengthen the business through capital investment and operational excellence," Amber Energy CEO Gregory Goff said in a statement Tuesday. Goff is expected to take the top leadership role at the refiner. The company will continue operating under the Citgo name and plans investments to enhance operations and profitability.

Toronto-listed Gold Reserve, whose earlier bid had been recommended by the special master, expressed disagreement with the ruling. The mining company said it would evaluate all available legal remedies to protect its interests.

The auction stems from an eight-year litigation by multiple creditors seeking to recover approximately $19 billion in judgments against Venezuela related to past debt defaults and asset expropriations. Evercore, advising the court, had valued Citgo at around $13 billion, while Venezuela has maintained the company is worth more than $18 billion.

Amber Energy expects the transaction to close in 2026, pending approval from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and other regulatory authorities. The sale concludes a multi-round bidding process that began after a 2017 case brought by Crystallex established PDV Holding’s liability for certain Venezuelan obligations.

Citgo Petroleum, headquartered in Houston and the seventh-largest refiner in the United States, has operated independently from its former parent PDVSA since 2019 due to U.S. sanctions.