Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA has settled an arbitration case brought against it by Canadian miner Crystallex and has paid the company US$1.4 billion to avoid having its most precious business, U.S. downstream operator Citgo, auctioned off so Crystallex can collect what the court awarded it for the nationalization of its Venezuelan operations. Reuters cited court documents revealing that had already made one payment under the arbitration case, of US$425 million, most of it in “liquid securities” and the rest in Venezuelan and PDVSA bonds. The rest will be paid by early 2021. A U.S. federal judge in August awarded Crystallex the right to approach Venezuela’s U.S. oil unit to seek its compensation of US$1.4 billion. The ruling by Chief Judge Leonard P. Stark was unique: government assets such as Citgo’s parent, PDVSA, are as a rule protected from lawsuits targeting a state. Yet in Stark’s ruling, the judge […]