CDB provides $1.5 billion loan to PDVSA for working capital purposes

According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in December 2014, China Development Bank (CDB) entered into a $1.5 billion credit facility with Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) for working capital purposes. The interest rate was set to LIBOR (0.343%) plus a 6.25% margin (6.593%). Interest payments were to be made quarterly and the term of the facility was 36 months (final maturity date: 2017). Payments under the facility could be made through the delivery of crude oil and related products at market prices. As of December 31, 2015, $150 million had been amortized and the loan’s outstanding amount was $1.2 billion. As of December 31, 2016, the loan’s outstanding amount was $600 million.

Additional details

1. Reuters reports that PDVSA paid off a $1.5 billion loan that it received in 2014 in December 2017, but it does not identify the source of the loan. This source may or may not be referring to the CDB loan that was issued in December 2014. This issue merits further investigation. 2. AidData assumes that the credit facility was fully drawn down by the borrower (based on Reuters reporting). Therefore, Project ID#58504 is not assigned to the umbrella category. 3. Given that the borrower was allowed to repay the loan with the delivery of crude oil and related products at market prices, AidData assumes for the time being that the loan is collateralized with oil export revenue. However, this issue requires further investigation. 4. The China-Latin America Finance Database, which is co-produced by the Inter-American Dialogue and Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center, does not capture this $1.5 billion loan from China Development Bank.

Number of official sources

3

Number of total sources

6