- Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA would sell North American unit Citgo if it receives a good offer, the country's oil minister says.
- Citgo has three U.S. refineries with combined capacity of ~750K bbl/day, but two of the refineries are geared to run heavy crudes from Venezuela while U.S. refining companies are trying to maximize profits by buying cheap domestic light crudes; Citgo's refinery in Lemont, Ill., is the only one that does not process Venezuelan heavy crudes, and its location is not far from inexpensive Canadian crudes.
- Separate from Citgo, PDVSA has a stake in the Chalmette refinery in Louisiana with Exxon (NYSE:XOM) and owns the Merey Sweeny unit of the Sweeny, Tex., refinery with Conoco (NYSE:COP) spinoff Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX); selling either likely would lead to legal tangles because of arbitration claims filed by XOM and COP over 2007 nationalizations of their projects in Venezuela.