Moody's Assigns Baa1 to US$300mn Sweeny Bonds

Moody's has assigned a provisional Baa1 rating to the proposed US$300mn unsecured bonds of Merey Sweeny L.P. and Sweeny Funding Inc., a 50-50 joint venture between US-based oil company Phillips Petroleum Co. (NYSE: P) and Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA . The Merey-Sweeny project comprises the expansion and upgrade of Phillips Petroleum's refinery in Sweeny, Texas, to process heavy sour Merey crude from Venezuela. The offtake from the project will be used by Phillips in the larger Sweeny complex, which encompasses the refinery and other natural gas liquid (NGL) and petrochemical facilities. New facilities slated for development include a delayed coker with a capacity of 58,000 barrels per day (bpd), a vacuum distillation unit with a capacity of 110,000 bpd. Costs should total US$319mn, representing 71% of total project expenditures.