By Brian Ellsworth
CARACAS, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Canadian miner Crystallex is seeking to seize shares in a subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA that owns U.S. refiner Citgo as part of a dispute over the 2008 state takeover of the Las Cristinas gold mine, according to court filings.
Crystallex is seeking to collect on a $1.4 billion award it won via a World Bank arbitration panel in 2016.
It has been among the most aggressive of some 20 companies pursuing similar disputes regarding nationalizations under late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.
The company on Monday asked the United States District Court for the District of Delaware to attach shares in Delaware-based PDV Holding, a PDVSA subsidiary that owns of refining and marketing company Citgo Petroleum. Citgo owns three refineries and a network of terminals and pipelines.
PDVSA did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The struggling state oil firm in 2016 issued a bond that used 50.1 percent of shares in Citgo Holding Inc as collateral, as part of a broader refinancing operation. The remaining 49.9 percent of Citgo shares were used as collateral for a $1.5 billion loan from Russia's state-owned oil producer Rosneft ROSN.MM .
The latter is negotiating to swap that collateral for oilfield stakes and a fuel supply deal, partly in order to avoid complications from U.S. sanctions. ranging from U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) XOM.N to small Canadian miner Gold Reserve are pursuing claims against Venezuela via the World Bank tribunal known as the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID.
Enforcing those judgments in the United States requires that the ICSID decisions be ratified by U.S. courts, which Crystallex has done.
Crystallex in June won court orders blocking Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc 8604.T and China's Haitong International Securities Group Ltd 0665.HK from transferring securities owned by Venezuela. government of President Nicolas Maduro is struggling under the collapse of the country's socialist economic model that suffers triple-digit inflation, chronic product shortages and rising incidence of malnutrition.
Maduro insists his government is victim of an "economic war."