Petróleos de Venezuela SA is facing new legal action from North American multinationals over financial maneuvers they say are designed to shield the state-owned oil giant’s U.S. assets from seizure. Canadian mining company Crystallex International Corp. on Wednesday expanded an existing lawsuit in Delaware federal court against PdVSA, as the struggling national company is known. At issue is a loan transaction that PdVSA quietly undertook last month with Rosneft Trading SA, an affiliate of Russia’s state-owned oil company that was also named as a defendant. Lawyers for U.S. oil producer ConocoPhillips , another plaintiff suing PdVSA, also said on Wednesday that it would seek relief from the court. The two companies are seeking large awards from Venezuela in international arbitration tribunals over nationalizations carried out under the nation’s deceased president, Hugo Chávez. PdVSA, the major economic engine in recession-ravaged Venezuela, has drawn the companies’ ire by taking steps they […]