Petrobras CEO Expects to Sell $20 Bln in Debt in 2016

Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA plans to sell about $20 billion of debt next year to finance its 2017 needs, Aldemir Bendine, chief executive of the state-run oil company known as Petrobras, told Bloomberg News on Thursday.

 

There is a good possibility that bonds backed by future oil exports could help meet that financing goal and find strong demand in Asia, Bloomberg reported, citing Bendine.

 

Petrobras, though, has ruled out the use of hybrid securities in the short term, Bendine said. He adding that such bonds, which are partly guaranteed by the future sale of equity, could be sold at some later date.

 

Hybrid securities were the subject of reports in November that the government was considering their use as a way to rescue Petrobras in case the company found it difficult to raise enough money to pay both maturing debts and for capital investment needed to secure future output.

 

Bendine also told Bloomberg that the only way the company will reduce its debt is through the sale of assets.

 

Petrobras has nearly $130 billion of debt, the most of any oil company in the world.

 

Bendine said that the decision by Moody's Investors Service to downgrade the company's debt to Ba3 from Ba2 on Wednesday does not trigger any bond covenants.