July 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. court officer overseeing the

auction for PDV Holdings, the parent of Venezuela-owned U.S.

refiner Citgo Petroleum, has recommended a $7.38 billion bid

from Dalinar Energy, a unit of Gold Reserve ( GDRZF ), according

to a court filing and a company statement.

The auction stems from an eight-year-old case that

Canadian miner Crystallex initiated in Delaware against

Venezuela. The court found Citgo's parent, PDV Holding, liable

for Venezuela's debts and expropriations, paving the way for

over a dozen other creditors to pursue compensation of nearly

$19 billion.

Citgo cut ties with its ultimate parent, Caracas-based

PDVSA, in 2019.

The Delaware court officer's recommendation follows the

expiry of the auction process that saw bids from Contrarian

Funds' affiliate Red Tree Investment and Gold Reserve's ( GDRZF ) Dalinar.

A group led by commodities trading house Vitol also

submitted a bid exceeding $10 billion in the final hours of the

auction, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing two sources with

knowledge of the offer.

Earlier this year, the court had selected Red Tree's

$3.7-billion offer as the starting bid for PDV. The offer

included an agreement to pay holders of a Venezuelan defaulted

bond.

Court officer Robert Pincus said bid prices as well as the

certainty of closing of the deal were taken into consideration,

and only Dalinar's and a revised $3.81 billion bid from Red Tree

met their requirements.

Pincus "is reasonably satisfied that Dalinar is likely

to attain the requisite regulatory approvals," the filing said,

adding that Dalinar's was "the highest bid that meets the bid

requirements".

Dalinar's $7.38 billion bid is a revised one, relying on a

combination of equity and debt financing, and is supported by a

consortium including Rusoro Mining ( RMLFF ), two units of U.S.

conglomerate Koch and Germany's Siemens Energy, Gold

Reserve ( GDRZF ) said in a statement. Dalinar had initially made a $7.1

billion bid for PDV.

"Our bid satisfies creditors further down the waterfall than

was ever contemplated by any prior bid since the inception of

the Delaware sale process," said Paul Rivett, Gold Reserve's ( GDRZF )

executive vice chairman.

The sale requires approval of a judge. The Delaware federal

court is scheduled to hold the sale hearing on August 18,

according to Gold Reserve ( GDRZF ).

(Reporting by Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane

Venkatraman and Mrigank Dhaniwala)