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Moody's may change SOCAR's credit rating

11 February 2016 12:33 (UTC +04:00)

This action has no immediate impact on SOCAR's ratings.

In 2016, Moody's expects that SOCAR's credit metrics will weaken further as a result of the lower oil price environment, which could put the company's BCA under pressure. Oil prices fell to about $30/ barrel (bbl) in January 2016. As part of its ongoing assessment of energy markets, the rating agency sharply reduced its oil price assumptions on 21 January 2016 in light of continuing oversupply in the global oil markets and ongoing tepid demand growth. Moody's does not expect oil prices to shift significantly in 2016 from their early 2016 levels, which touched multi-year lows in January, but forecasts that Brent crude, the international benchmark, will average $33/bbl for 2016.