
Trade Finance In Wartime
The huge drop-off in trade involving Russia and Ukraine has hit trade finance hard.
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Brazilian oil giant Petrobras will use debt issuance to finance new offshore exploration. |
The Petrobras state-controlled oil company sold $1.5 billion of 10-year bonds on international markets in February. The deal, which carries a 7.875% coupon, was managed by HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and Santander and was issued through the company’s Petrobras International Finance division. Proceeds will be used to help finance a $174.4 billion five-year investment program through 2013, which is 55% higher than the previous five-year plan. The plan, delayed since last September amid a sharp drop in oil prices, was unveiled in January and includes $28.6 billion in investments this year alone. Part of the investment plan focuses on developing new offshore pre-salt oil finds, ranked as the largest oil find in the hemisphere in three decades. Petrobras aims to boost crude output from a current 2.2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 3.3 million bpd in 2013 and 5.7 million bpd by 2020. Part of the five-year investment plan will be funded through an $11.9 billion loan this year from the BNDES state-owned development bank. BNDES will lend the company another $10 billion next year.
Antonio Guerrero