By Marianna Parraga and Arathy Somasekhar

HOUSTON (Reuters) -An affiliate of Elliott Investment Management wants to cut costs at Venezuela-owned Citgo Petroleum while a unit of Gold Reserve would largely focus on maintaining the status quo, five sources told Reuters, as a lengthy auction that will determine the refiner’s future nears an end.

Details of the two competing visions for Citgo emerged ahead of a U.S. court selecting the winner for an auction of shares in Citgo’s parent company, PDV Holding.

Fifteen creditors are lining up to cash proceeds from the auction of shares, ordered by the Delaware court as part of a complex, eight-year case to compensate them for debt defaults and expropriations in Venezuela.

A hearing next week would help the judge decide who should prevail and mov

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