(Bloomberg) - Venezuelan oil company PDVSA and its US units PDV Holding and Citgo are urging a Delaware judge not to accelerate the sale of PDV Holding shares to comply with a US $ 1.4 billion arbitration award won by Canadian mining company Crystallex. .

The request comes two days after Crystallex asked the judge to expedite an order to sell the shares. Crystallex said the sale is "more imperative" after a Manhattan federal judge recently ruled that PDVSA 2020 bondholders have legal rights to Citgo, a refinery. The PDVSA 2020 bond collateral includes 50.1% of PDV Holding's shares, and Crystallex fears that bondholders will come to control Citgo as early as January.

Attorneys for state-owned PDVSA said in an Oct. 23 letter to the Delaware federal judge that there is no urgency because the Manhattan ruling is not yet final. They also say that an auction of the shares is now not possible because any effort to take control of Citgo, which is protected from US sanctions on Venezuela, would require a license from the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. United States.

Venezuela's lawyers in the case receive instructions from the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, who is recognized by the US as the president of Venezuela.

The US Department of Justice previously asked US District Judge Leonard Stark in Delaware to block the sale of Citgo's parent, saying it could hurt US foreign policy. Stark ruled in 2018 that Crystallex could seize Citgo's shares to comply with the arbitration award, a decision that Guaidó's lawyers continue to challenge.

Original Note: Venezuela's Guaido Urges Judge Not to Fast-Track Refinery Sale

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