HOUSTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil ( XOM ) board director

Gregory Goff recently joined a newly formed Elliott Investment

Management-backed company seeking to acquire control of

Venezuela-owned oil refiner Citgo Petroleum.

Citgo and Exxon are rivals in the motor fuels and

lubrications business. Exxon is the third-largest U.S. oil

refiner by capacity and Citgo is the seventh-largest.

Goff, who joined Exxon in 2021 as part of a

dissident slate of directors, was on Friday identified as CEO of

Amber Energy, an Elliott affiliate, in a statement heralding its

selection as the successful bidder in a U.S. court auction of

shares in Citgo parent PDV Holding.

Exxon had no immediate comment on Goff's status at the

company. The company's board of directors webpage lists Goff as

chairman of its audit committee and member of its executive and

finance committees.

A spokesperson for Amber Energy declined to comment.

Amber's bid puts an up to $7.28 billion enterprise value on

the Houston-based oil refiner. Shares in a Citgo parent whose

only asset is the refiner are being auctioned to repay up to

$21.3 billion in claims against Venezuela and state oil firm

PDVSA for expropriations and debt defaults.

Citgo owns refineries in Texas, Louisiana and Illinois, an

extensive fuel storage and pipeline network, and 4,200

independent retailers. It had 2023 net profit of $2 billion.

Amber's disclosure of the Citgo bid describes Goff as having

40 years of experience in energy and energy-related businesses.

It makes no mention his Exxon tenure, but does describe him as

the former chairman and CEO of oil refiner Andeavor and CEO of

Claire Technologies Inc.

He was a vice chairman at Marathon Petroleum ( MPC ) until 2019.

Elliott made billions of dollars after taking a stake in

Marathon and prodding it to improve operations and hive off

pieces of its business. Marathon sold its Speedway retail fuel

business to 7-Eleven for $21 billion in 2021.