Aside from record crack spreads, one of the more intriguing storylines in the refining sector over the past year has been the long‑running sale of CITGO Petroleum, which owns a significant base of U.S. downstream and supporting assets. In November 2025, a Delaware federal court approved the court‑ordered sale of CITGO’s parent, PDV Holding, to Amber Energy, an affiliate of Elliott Management, for roughly $5.9 billion. Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA and other parties appealed, arguing the auction process was flawed. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case last month but has not yet ruled. On the political side, the deal still needs a license from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which has yet to be granted.
At stake is a sizable refining and logistics network. CITGO’s largest refinery, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, has a capacity of about 470,000 barrels per day (b/d). Its Lemont refinery outside Chicago runs about 190,000 b/d, and its Corpus Christi, Texas refinery about 165,000 b/d. The company also owns the Sour Lake Pipeline, a short‑haul line that supplies a significant share of Lake Charles’s crude, plus marine import docks at Corpus Christi and Lake Charles that let both refineries take waterborne crude (see map below).
While the sale drags on, the assets appear to be running very well. State data show Corpus Christi throughput at a record of roughly 177,000 b/d in the third quarter, slightly above nameplate capacity. Lake Charles also appears to be at or near record levels, around 510,000 b/d through August, well above its rated capacity; September data are not yet available (see both graphs below). Those strong Gulf Coast runs may be partly offset by a reported power outage at Lemont in July, which may have cut throughput there during the quarter. CITGO reports third‑quarter earnings this coming week, which should show how much of today’s wide‑margin environment is reaching its bottom line.
With CITGO likely generating strong cash flow, the outcome of the sale matters more than ever. The two open questions are whether the Third Circuit upholds the 2025 auction, and whether Treasury grants the license needed to close the deal. Both will decide who ultimately owns one of the more valuable refining portfolios in the U.S.
Flow/Transaction Updates and New Assets Under Coverage
Plainview has over 500 assets with crude oil throughput or transactional data on our platform and continues to add more each week. Data for existing assets under coverage are posted as soon as they become available. Below are the assets that were updated this week or newly added to coverage.
