The consolidated financial debt of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) increased by 1.2% to US$ 34,894 million last year, according to a balance of the state company published on Wednesday in the official press.
As of December 31, 2020, PDVSA’s financial debt had totaled US$34,494 million, according to the balance published in the newspaper Correo del Orinoco.
According to the document, around three quarters of the existing consolidated debt at the end of 2021 corresponds to loans contracted by the parent company, mainly bonds. The remainder of the debt is related to bonds and credit facilities contracted by subsidiaries and joint ventures of PDVSA.
PDVSA stopped meeting its obligations to bondholders and many other creditors following the imposition of financial sanctions by the United States.
Last year, the boards that oversee its main outside subsidiary, Citgo Petroleum, which is controlled by the opposition, hired JP Morgan Chase & Co to explore payment negotiations with creditors.
In 2021, Venezuela managed to stop the free fall that its oil production and exports had accumulated since the sanctions in 2019 stripped PDVSA of its main market, the United States.
Small service companies that have received deferred payments from PDVSA have contributed to the recovery, as well as the import of key supplies from Iran.
This allowed production to rise to 871,000 barrels per day (bpd) in December, pushing the 2021 average to 636,000 bpd, 12% above 2020 extraction, Venezuela reported to OPEC.
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