US again blocks Citgo takeover by PdV creditors

Spanish Market: Crude oil, Oil products
06/10/20

The holders of a defaulted PdV 2020 bond backed by shares in US refiner Citgo will be unable to press for a takeover until 19 January, even as the fate of Venezuela's most valuable foreign asset is being decided in US courts.

The US Treasury Department today extended a prohibition on a potential takeover of Citgo by holders of Venezuelan state-owned PdV's 2020 bond by a further three months, from the previous deadline of 20 October. The action prevents PdV 2020 bondholders, including Wall Street financial institutions, from exercising their right to seize 50.1pc of Citgo for missed principal and interest payments.

Treasury initially took action to prevent a takeover of Citgo by bondholders last year to help Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's shadow administration, which has effective control over Citgo but no authority over its Caracas-based parent company PdV.

Guaido's shadow authority last year defaulted on $842mn in principal and $72mn in interest, giving the PdV 2020 bondholders a nominal right to take over its share in Citgo.

At the most recent hearing in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, a federal judge pressed the bondholders and representatives of Venezuela's opposition to explain how they would treat debt issued by PdV in 2016, when Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro was still recognized by the US.

Guaido's shadow administration is suing to invalidate the debt, arguing Maduro's PdV issued it illegally without the consent of the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

The US government has told the court that the loss of Citgo would be damaging to US policy goals. But the Justice Department has offered no arguments on how to address the legal implications of the validity of the contract or bonds.

Aside from the bondholders, other creditors of PdV and the Venezuelan government have asked US courts to satisfy their claims by putting Citgo on the block.

Legal claims for Citgo highlight political and legal challenges that originated in January 2019, when the US recognized Guaido as Venezuela's interim leader and declared Maduro to be illegitimate. The challenges for other western countries that recognize Guaido also came to light in a UK court of appeal decision yesterday over whether Maduro or Guaido has authority over more than $2bn in gold stored in the Bank of England.

The US presidential election in November adds another complication. The latest extension of a prohibition on taking over Citgo expires a day before President Donald Trump's current term in office ends. Guaido's claim to the interim presidency expires even sooner, when the term of the Venezuelan National Assembly that he heads ends on 5 January, after the 6 December elections that he has pledged to boycott. Trump's administration says it will continue to recognize Guaido as Venezuela's interim leader.

Trump's Democratic challenger, former vice president Joe Biden, has offered few clues on how he intends to address the complicated political and legal issues arising from the crisis in Venezuela, aside from making it easier for Venezuelan migrants to stay temporarily in the US.

In a meeting yesterday with Hispanic-American community leaders in Miami, Florida, Biden blasted Maduro as a dictator and said he would continue to use sanctions to press the Maduro government to hold free and fair elections.

But the Biden team says he will work with US partners abroad to resolve the crisis in Caracas — suggesting more active participation in less confrontational efforts by Norway, the EU, Mexico and Uruguay to settle Venezuela's political crisis through humanitarian aid and dialogue, including with the Maduro government.

By Haik Gugarats

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16/06/25

VLCC rates jump on Mideast Gulf disruptions

London, 16 June (Argus) — Freight rates for very large crude carriers (VLCC)in the Mideast Gulf soared today to the highest since the start of May, as the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran creates significant turbulence in the shipping market. Rates were near a 2025-low as recently as 12 June, the day before the conflict began. Violence continued over the weekend, including a strike on Israel's 197,000 b/d Haifa refinery and against gas treatment facilities in southern Iran. Shipowners have become increasingly reluctant to operate in the Mideast Gulf and there are indications that marine insurers are considering implementing an additional war risk premium (AWRP) in the coming days. This would lead to significantly higher freight costs. The shortage of willing shipowners has driven the Mideast Gulf to east Asia rate, the bellwether VLCC route, up by nearly 60pc, to WS67.5 or $15.78/t today from WS44 or $10.28/t on Thursday, 12 June. In addition to rising rates, vessel speeds throughout the Mideast Gulf region appear to be slowing as shipowners hesitate before committing to a booking. Fixing activity has been minimal, with shipowners reluctant to commit to any deal within the Mideast Gulf evem at higher rates. Charterers have made at least eight VLCC cargoes available and all are struggling to find a tanker. But rising rates could make shipowners increasingly likely to commit to bookings, and so fixing activity could resume shortly. VLCC markets in other regions are surging as well, as charterers hike their bids to pull shipowners away from the Mideast Gulf market. A charterer in Brazil wrapped up a fixture at WS62, considerably higher than previous market conditions. The market has been certainly been inflated by concerns around the Israel-Iran conflict and a ceasefire would probably drop the cost of freight back to previous levels. During previous flare ups of tension, the VLCC market has usually firmed rapidly in the early stages but then quickly declined once a ceasefire is declared. By John Ollett and Rhys van Dinther Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Trump repeats call for Russia to rejoin G7

16/06/25

Trump repeats call for Russia to rejoin G7

Washington, 16 June (Argus) — US president Donald Trump kicked off his first meeting at the G7 leaders summit in Alberta, Canada, by suggesting that Russia should be invited to rejoin the group from which it was expelled following the invasion of Crimea in 2014. The European members of the group have prepared a wide portfolio of subjects to address at the summit, including proposals to toughen G7 sanctions on Russia. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has proposed lowering the G7 price cap on Russian crude to $45/bl and banning imports of refined products made from Russian oil. But Trump, at the beginning of his meeting with Canadian prime minister Mark Carney today, said that "you spend so much time talking about Russia, and [Russian president Vladimir Putin] is no longer at the table, so it makes life more complicated." Expelling Russia was a mistake, Trump said, blaming the decision on former US president Barack Obama and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. The broader political background is in some ways similar to the G7 summit in 2018, also hosted by Canada, when Trump first told his fellow western leaders they should not have expelled Russia from the group. Now as then, sanctions against Russia are on the G7 agenda and the US Congress is advancing legislation to target Russia's energy exports. The key difference is that Trump in 2025 has sufficient control over the Republican majority in both chambers of Congress to block any legislation he does not like. "They'll be guided by me" on the Russia sanctions legislation, he said earlier this month, calling it a "harsh bill". "At the right time, I'll do what I want to do. But they're waiting for me to decide on what to do," Trump said. Trump has argued that imposing new economic penalties against Russia would derail the ongoing Russia-Ukrainian peace talks, even though he has acknowledged the negotiations have made no progress. Trump is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of the G7 summit, the White House said. Not seeing eye-to-eye on trade, either Trump's fellow leaders were hoping to push him to roll back the unilateral tariffs he imposed on nearly all US trading partners, but Trump's public comments at the start of his meeting with Carney indicated no willingness to compromise on this issue as well. "I think we have different concepts," Trump said. "I have a tariff concept. Mark has a different concept, which is something that some people like, but we're going to see if we can get to the bottom of it today. I am a tariff person." Canada's strong response to Trump's tariffs made him roll back the broad tariffs he imposed on the US' North American neighbors at the beginning of his second term. The bulk of US imports from Canada and Mexico remains duty-free, but Trump's tariffs on steel, aluminum, cars and auto parts do not make an exemption for Canada and Mexico. The effective US tariff rate on imports from Canada and Mexico — the amount of duties collected from all imported goods divided by their value — rose in April to 2.3pc and 4.1pc respectively, up from nearly zero in January, according to US Department of Commerce data. Trump is separately meeting with Mexico president Claudia Sheinbaum later today. Despite a busy pace of meetings with fellow leaders, Trump extended the customary press gaggle at the beginning of his meeting with Carney to take questions on US domestic politics, including his directive Sunday night to the US immigration authorities to carry out massive raids in the largest US cities. Carney in the end had to cut Trump off, asking him to carry on with their meeting. "We have a few more minutes with the president and his team, and then we actually have to start the [G7] meeting to address some of these big issues," Carney said. By Haik Gugarats Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Climate plans so far fall short on fossil fuels: E3G

16/06/25

Climate plans so far fall short on fossil fuels: E3G

Edinburgh, 16 June (Argus) — Only 10 of the 22 new nationally determined contributions (NDCs) — climate plans — submitted so far have reaffirmed commitments relating to phasing down coal power or transitioning away from fossil fuels, think-tank E3G said today. These mostly fall short of the goal of the Paris Agreement, it said, and it called on UN Cop 30 climate summit host Brazil to turn "signal into substance". NDCs from Japan, Singapore and Moldova mention the priorities of phasing down coal and transitioning away from fossil fuels, two key outcomes under the UN climate body UNFCCC's first global stocktake (GST) agreed at Cop 28 in Dubai. The GST, an assessment of climate action progress under the Paris Agreement, included an historic call to transition away from fossil fuels. But very little progress has been made on its implementation so far. The UAE in its new NDC stipulates that it "integrates the outcomes of the GST", while the Maldives and Moldova, which are heavily reliant on energy imports, have goals to reduce dependency on fossil fuel imports, citing energy security reasons, according to E3G. The think tank noted that 11 countries that have submitted plans are part of coalitions aiming at phasing out fossil fuels. But none "have introduced country-wide moratoriums on fossil fuel exploration and drilling," E3G said. Canada and Mexico have partial bans, while the UK has announced bans on new drilling licenses in the North Sea, it said, but most countries do not explicitly pledge to divest from fossil fuel assets in their new NDC. Except for the UK, major emitters' NDCs and implementation fall short of what is needed to keep global warming within "safe limits". "With the September NDC deadline fast approaching, Brazil has a critical chance to turn that signal into substance," and rally countries to submit climate plans with credible strategies to move beyond fossil fuels, E3G said. Looking at Brazil, which is hosting Cop 30 in Belem in November, E3G said the country has pledged that "in the medium and long term, it will seek to gradually replace the use of fossil fuels with electrification solutions and advanced biofuels." But Brasilia is looking to develop its oil and gas, including in the environmentally sensitive equatorial margin. It will offer 332 oil and gas blocks in an auction this week — the first since December 2023 — including 47 in the equatorial margin's Foz do Amazonas basin. A separate report today from civil society organisation Oil Change International noted that Brazil "is among the 10 largest expanders of oil and gas to 2035." The country's plans to ramp up oil and gas output "sets a detrimental example", Oil Change said. But Brazil "exemplifies the difficulties that emerging economies with oil and gas reserves face when trying to balance poverty eradication, industrialisation and climate goals", it added. The US is set to account for 58pc of carbon emissions from new oil and gas fields over 2025-35 — around 16pc of the remaining carbon budget — while Brazil's projected share of carbon emissions is 1.4pc, Oil Change found. Oil Change put the global cumulative CO2 emissions from projected new oil and gas extraction at just under 46bn t. The carbon budget refers to a limit on CO2 emissions, in order to keep the global rise in temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, as sought by the Paris agreement. The reports were released to coincide with the beginning of the "halfway point" climate talks, hosted by the UNFCCC in Bonn, Germany. These technical negotiations are scheduled for 16-26 June. By Caroline Varin and Georgia Gratton Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Climate groups on alert for Brazil oil auction

16/06/25

Climate groups on alert for Brazil oil auction

Sao Paulo, 16 June (Argus) — Climate change monitoring groups say that Brazil's upcoming oil and natural gas block auction will help increase CO2 emissions, a direct contradiction to the country's climate agenda. The auction, to be held on 17 June , will offer permanent concessions for 332 blocks, including several in the Amazon basin. Burning resources from these blocks could release more than 11bn metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO₂e), which exceeds the agribusiness' sector emissions over the past six years, according to non-profit climate change institute Climainfo and greenhouse gas tracking platform SEEG data. The agribusiness sector is one of the main CO2 emitters in Brazil, accounting for around 27pc of all of the country's emissions in 2023, according to SEEG. The environmentally-sensitive Foz do Amazonas offshore basin , along with other six Amazon sedimentary basins included in the offer — Parecis, Solimoes, Amazonas, Parnaiba, Barreirinhas and Para Maranhao — contain reserves of 69bn bl of oil equivalent. If exploited, these fossil fuels could release 24bn tCO₂e, nearly half of all global emissions in 2023, according to non-profit transition energy global network Fossil Fuel Treaty. Conflicting agendas The climate groups and other environmentalists argue that the upcoming auction highlights Brazil's contradictory stance on oil production and the fight against climate change. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has spoken in favor of oil production several times — even clashing with environmental watchdog Ibama over a delay to award permits to drill the equatorial margin — despite also positioning himself and the country as a leaders in the fight against climate change . Brazil is one of the few G20 members that has unveiled NDCs under the Paris climate agreement, although some climate groups accuse them of lacking ambition . The country set a target of reducing its greenhouse gas emission (GHG) by 59-67pc below 2005 levels by 2035, which represents around 850mn-1.05bn tCO2e, according to the government. But many environmentalists find those two positions to be contradictory. "Brazil now has the chance to lead by example by suspending the auction and show the world...that it is ready for a just, sustainable, and fossil-free future," senior campaigner at nonprofit environmental advocacy organization Stand.earth Gisela Hurtado said. "The auction of new oil blocks in the Amazon must be canceled now," according to Mauricio Guetta, director of law and public policy at climate change NGO Avaaz, adding that the issue is "a matter of justice for indigenous peoples and the forest." "We need a global agreement to phase out oil extraction in a fair and just way," Fossil Fuel Treaty's campaign coordinator Clara Junger said. "In the meantime, the bare minimum is to stop the expansion [of production]." The federal prosecutor's office in Brazil's Para state recommended suspending the 17 June auction, or at least the exclusion of the Foz do Amazonas blocks. And climate institute Instituto Arayara also filed lawsuits challenging the bidding round. But the challenges were ignored and the auction will go ahead as planned. Brazil's oil production will peak at 5.3mn b/d in 2030, a 47pc rise from 3.6mn b/d in 2024, according to the government's 10-year plan for energy expansion. Indigenous groups worry, too Indigenous groups are also speaking out against oil exploration in Brazil and plan to use the auction and the upcoming UN Cop 30 climate conference — to be held in Para, in November— to also protest fossil fuel extraction in Foz do Amazonas. The initiative — led by the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (Coiab) with support from the Articulation of Brazil's Indigenous Peoples (Apib) and the International Coalition of the Indigenous Amazon — is pleading for a "just energy transition that prioritizes community-based renewable energy instead of predatory projects in its delimited territories." Other statements include pleas for an "official international commitment" to recognize indigenous lands as climate mitigation policies, direct access to climate resources from indigenous organizations and funds to ensure autonomy, protection of voluntary isolation. The group drafted a declaration — signed by entities representing more than 300 Brazilian indigenous groups as well as 28 segments of traditional communities and indigenous organizations of the Amazon basin — that will be presented at the Bonn climate conference next week. It is also planning protests during the 17 June auction. Brazil's NDC also commits to improving territorial, indigenous and environmental monitoring, the groups say. By João Curi Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

Electronic interference rising in Mideast Gulf: UKMTO

16/06/25

Electronic interference rising in Mideast Gulf: UKMTO

Dubai, 16 June (Argus) — Electronic interference within the waters of the Mideast Gulf and the strait of Hormuz are at elevated levels, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said today. The UKMTO "has received multiple reports… that there is increasing electronic interference within the waters of the Gulf," it said. Monitoring of automatic identification systems (AIS) by the UKMTO has confirmed the finding, it said. The warning comes during a new escalatory cycle between Israel and Iran that was triggered by a series of air and missile strikes by Israel on several key Iranian military and nuclear sites on 13 June. Iran responded with ballistic missile and drone strikes on military targets in Israel, including the Kirya complex in Tel Aviv, which houses the defence ministry headquarters. The two sides have been exchanging missile fire with increasing intensity ever since, with critical energy infrastructure being hit. The UKMTO said electronic interference across the wider region has been rising in this period, which is "having a significant impact on vessels' positional reporting" through automated systems. It advised vessels transiting through Mideast Gulf and nearby waters to do so "with caution" and continue to report incidences of electronic interference. By Nader Itayim Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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