Citgo Petroleum Corp. will no longer be a part of an $816 million trial as it looks to settle with the state of New Hampshire, according to a court filing from this week.

"The parties stipulate that Citgo Petroleum shall be severed from the above captioned case until such time as a consent agreement between Citgo and the state is filed with the court," stated a court filing dated Jan. 15.

The case about the pollution of the state's wells with the chemical methyl tertiary-butyl ether, or MTBE, began Monday. The state says oil companies knew of the potential for groundwater contamination when they decided to use the gasoline additive.

New Hampshire filed suit in 2003 against Citgo, Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell Oil Co., Sunoco Inc., ConocoPhillips Co., Irving Oil Ltd., Vitol SA and Hess Corp. Since then, all the companies except Citgo, Exxon Mobil and Irving have settled out of court.

Under the agreement, Citgo and New Hampshire have until Feb. 15 to reach an agreement. Otherwise, Citgo will be reinstated to the case. Sources say the company and state have already reached a deal (Earle/Jeffrey, Bloomberg/Fuel Fix, Jan. 16). -- JE