NEW YORK -- CITGO Petroleum said on Friday that a lawsuit accusing it of helping oil producer group OPEC fix U.S. fuel prices is without merit, Reuters reported.
Several companies that buy oil products from the Venezuelan-owned company filed a suit this week saying top CITGO executives helped develop strategies for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which occasionally cuts world production to boost prices.
"The courts in the United States have no reason to hear this case," CITGO President Felix Rodriguez [image-nocss] told Reuters at a rally in the Bronx marking the renewal of the company's program to deliver heating oil in the United States.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, is more negative news for CITGO, which has been hit by calls for boycotts after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called U.S. President George W. Bush "the devil" while addressing the United Nations in September.
Spectrum Stores, Major Oil Co., W.C. Rice Oil and Abston Petroleum, which purchase gasoline and other products from CITGO to resell to consumers, are named as plaintiffs in the class-action file.
"We have studied the allegation and we don't feel that it has any merit," said CITGO spokesperson David McCollum. "We will defend it vigorously and we expect to win."
U.S. District Judge Sim Lake, who presided over cases related to the Enron scandal, is scheduled to meet with both parties on Feb. 2, 2007, a court official said.
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