New York, December 02, 2013 -- Moody's Investors Service affirmed Empresa Nacional del Petróleo's
(ENAP) Baa3 foreign currency rating and changed the rating outlook to
stable from negative. At the same time, Moody's assigned
a Baa3 rating to ENAP's CHF 215 million five-year senior
unsecured notes due 2018. Proceeds from ENAP's Swiss franc
issuance will be used to repay debt maturities.
"The affirmation of the Baa3 rating with a stable outlook reflects
ENAP's success in improving its earnings profile and reducing financial
leverage," commented Gretchen French, Moody's
Vice President. "While ENAP continues to have elevated financial
leverage for an investment-grade rating, its Baa3 rating
factors in a high level of implicit support from the Chilean government."
Issuer: Empresa Nacional del Petróleo
Assignments:
....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture
due 2018, Assigned Baa3
Outlook Actions:
....Outlook, Changed To Stable From
Negative
Affirmations:
....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture
due 2019, Affirmed Baa3
....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture
due 2021, Affirmed Baa3
....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture
due 2014, Affirmed Baa3
....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture
due 2020, Affirmed Baa3
RATINGS RATIONALE
ENAP has improved its financial leverage profile in 2013 through higher
earnings generation and modest debt reduction from asset sales,
and we expect the company to achieve continued profitability in 2014.
However, the company's debt burden and financial leverage
profile remain high for its Baa3 rating, particularly in the context
of its exposure to the import-dependent Chilean refining sector.
ENAP's fundamental earnings performance in 2013 has significantly
improved from 2012 levels, with EBITDA in the first nine months
of 2013 reaching over $550 million, as compared to around
$5 million in 2012.
The EBITDA improvement in 2013 has been driven by lower LNG import costs,
commercial sales of LNG in Chile at favorable prices, cost reimbursements
from the government for below market natural gas sales, and the
full earnings impact from the company's new alkylation unit at its
Aconcagua refinery.
At September 30, 2013, ENAP had about $4.3 billion
of total adjusted debt. Pro-forma for the expected after-tax
proceeds from the sale of ENAP's stake in Primax Peru and Primax
Ecuador, ENAP's debt/EBITDA for the last twelve months ending
September 30, 2013 was about 7x. This represents a considerable
improvement from debt/EBITDA of 104x in 2012.
Our stable rating outlook assumes that ENAP continues to focus on reducing
debt balances over the medium term and that Chilean implicit government
support of ENAP remains high.
If ENAP is unable to continue its modestly deleveraging trend or if there
are indications of reduced implicit government support for ENAP,
its baseline credit assessment could be lowered, resulting in a
downgrade of its Baa3 foreign currency rating.
While a rating upgrade is unlikely over the near-term, a
significantly improved sustainable financial leverage profile more supportive
of the cyclicality and volatility of the refining sector could have positive
rating implications over the medium term (debt/EBITDA approaching 5x).
Since ENAP is 100% owned by the Chilean government (Aa3 stable),
ENAP's foreign currency rating reflects the application of Moody's joint
default rating methodology for government-related issuers (GRIs).
ENAP's rating combines: (i) ENAP's underlying baseline credit assessment
of b2, and (ii) the willingness and ability of the government of
Chile to provide credit support to ENAP in a distress situation.
The Chilean government's ability to provide support to ENAP is measured
by its Aa3 local currency rating and stable outlook, weakened somewhat
by the medium dependence of the government and the company on credit factors
that could cause stress on both simultaneously. Moody's considers
the government's willingness to support the company as high, considering
the strategic importance of ENAP to the Chilean economy, ENAP's
100% ownership by the state, and the government's involvement
in the company's budget approval and other policy-related processes.
The principal methodology used in this rating was the Global Refining
and Marketing Rating Methodology published in December 2009. Other
methodologies used include the Government-Related Issuers methodology
published in July 2010. Please see the Credit Policy page on www.moodys.com
for a copy of these methodologies.
Empresa Nacional del Petróleo is Chile's national oil company.
It is headquartered in Santiago, Chile.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Gretchen French
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Steven Wood
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Releasing Office:
Moody's Investors Service, Inc.
250 Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10007
U.S.A.
JOURNALISTS: 212-553-0376
SUBSCRIBERS: 212-553-1653
Moody's rates ENAP's notes Baa3; outlook stable