Exxon board member joins Elliott group seeking to acquire refiner Citgo

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) board director Gregory Goff recently joined a newly formed Elliott Investment Management-backed company seeking to acquire control of Venezuela’s Citgo oil refiner, Reuters reported over the weekend.

Goff, who joined Exxon’s (XOM) board in 2021 as part of a dissident slate of directors, was identified as CEO of Elliott-affiliated Amber Energy in the announcement of Elliott as the presumptive winner in a U.S. court auction of shares in Citgo parent PDV Holding.

Shares in the Citgo parent whose only asset is the refiner are being auctioned to repay up to $21.3B in claims against Venezuela and state oil firm PDVSA for expropriations and debt defaults.

Elliott submitted offers in two bidding rounds, competing with rival bids from U.S. refiner CVR Energy (CVI) and miner Gold Reserve (OTCQX:GDRZF), which pulled out of the bidding last week.

Elliott’s offer would cover only part of the 26 claims approved by the court, excluding any provisions for bondholders; among companies that could cash proceeds if Elliott’s offer is confirmed, according to Reuters, are Crystallex, Tidewater (TDW), ConocoPhillips (COP), O-I Glass (OI), Huntington Ingalls (HII), ACL Investments, Red Tree Investments and Rusoro Mining (OTCPK:RMLFF).