Petroperú takes new ratings hit

Apoyo & Asociados lowered its ratings on Peru’s national oil company Petroperú and changed the outlook to negative from stable.

The company's first program of short-term instruments and long-term obligations were modified to ‘CP-2(pe)’ and ‘A(pe)’, respectively, from ‘CP-2+(pe)’ and ‘A+(pe)’, according to an update from the ratings agency.

In recent days, Fitch Ratings downgraded Petroperú, underpinned in part by the state operator’s loss of market share.

Apoyo attributed the downgrades to continued negative cash generation and high debt levels, a delay in the startup of the new Talara refinery and weakened state support.

Regarding the latter, the ratings agency points to a fiscal shortfall which is expected to continue due to forecast lackluster GDP growth.

Apoyo’s latest ratings are available in the Documents box in the top right corner.

BNamericas previously reported that the company’s net losses widened to US$183mn in the first quarter from US$158mn in January-March 2023.

“Sales in the national market are still influenced by competition, which offers greater discounts and commercial conditions, which cannot yet be mitigated by Petroperú… as it does not have an optimized refining margin at the new Talara refinery,” the company said.