Nov 14 (Reuters) - Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum

joined other refiners in posting a sharp drop in third-quarter

profit on Thursday, weighed down by a fall in refining margins.

Global oil refiners have seen their profit retreat this year

from the post-pandemic peaks, largely due to a demand slowdown,

especially in China.

In the United States, where demand has lagged expectations,

the 3-2-1 crack spread , an industry metric used to

assess refiners' margins on both gasoline and diesel put

together, averaged $20.18 in the July-September period, down

nearly 35% from last year.

The seventh-largest U.S. refiner said its net income fell to

$66 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with

$567 million a year earlier.

Houston-based Citgo is the centerpiece in a U.S. District

Court in Delaware's auction seeking to satisfy $21 billion in

claims against Venezuela for defaults and expropriations.

Last week, the United States extended a license protecting

Citgo from bondholders to March 2025.

Citgo's total throughput for the third quarter rose by 9,000

barrels per day over the year earlier to 811,000 bpd.

"After successfully completing our planned turnaround

activities this year, we were able to capture available margins

in a challenging pricing environment with strong reliability and

higher throughput," said Citgo CEO Carlos Jorda.

The company said its average crude utilization rate rose

slightly to 96% during the period.

Its total liquidity at the end of the quarter was $3.6

billion.