General equity of the Venezuelan State oil company Pdvsa and its affiliates maintained its rising trend during the first quarter of the year going from USD 56.06 billion to USD 63.88 billion. As a result, the debt/equity ratio of the company fell from 29 percent to 25 percent, despite the fact that the consolidated debt increased slightly to USD 16.06 billion.

In accordance with the general consolidated balance sheet for the quarter, Pdvsa contracted a new USD 1.37 billion debt from January to March although this amount is mostly related to a credit line provided by the French bank BNP Paribas (USD 1.15 billion) and to a USD 214 million debt related to debt rescheduling of the Petrocedeño joint venture, that will be due in 2012.

During this period, Pdvsa and Citgo redeemed slightly all their credits. Citgo, a wholly owned US subsidiary of Pdvsa, paid USD72 million of the revolving credit line contracted last year and USD 30 million of previous contracted debts.

In the breakdown of the liabilities of the Venezuelan oil company, there is a remarkable increase (16.6 percent) of the outstanding debt to providers, a trend that coincides with the opinions expressed by oil contractors.