On June 1, 2022, S&P Global Ratings removed its ratings on Trinidad Petroleum Holdings Limited from CreditWatch with developing implications and raised its Issuer Credit Rating on the Company with a two (2) notch upgrade to ‘BB’ from ‘B+’.
S&P Global also assigned a final ‘BB’ issuer credit and issue level rating to Heritage Petroleum Company Limited (Heritage), the main operating subsidiary of TPHL. The outlook for both TPHL and Heritage is “Negative” to mirror that of the sovereign rating of T&T (BBB- / Negative / A-3).
Heritage contributes approximately 87% of TPHL’s total Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) and accounted for about 58% of the country’s total oil production in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021. In May 2022, Heritage closed its US $500 million senior secured notes transaction and US $475 million new term loan which enabled it to refinance TPHL’s debt and implement a comfortable, lower cost and longer-term debt maturity schedule following the refinancing exercise.
These new debt issuances have excluded from any lien reserves, and importantly, property not required for core business operations. In addition, after TPHL refinanced most of its liabilities through Heritage, TPHL no longer has the administrative default that forced it to classify total liabilities as short-term.
S&P Global also withdrew its issue-level ratings on TPHL’s 9.75% senior secured notes due 2026 and 6.00% senior unsecured senior notes due 2022 after full repayment in the recent refinancing exercise.
Chairman of TPHL and Heritage Mr. Michael Quamina commented “We are very pleased with this most recent upgrade. Against the backdrop of increased oil prices on the world market and Heritage’s plans for increased production, we look forward to maximizing returns for the people of Trinidad and Tobago”.