SINGAPORE (Standard&Poor's) May 24, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its rating on PTT Exploration and Production Public Co. Ltd. (PTTEP; BBB+/Negative/--) is not immediately affected by the company's revised bid to acquire Cove Energy PLC (unrated). The acquisition is still conditional on, among other things, PTTEP receiving at least 90% shareholder acceptance and the written consent from the Republic of Mozambique's (B+/Stable/B) Minister of Mineral Resources. We recently revised the outlook to negative to reflect our view that PTTEP's debt is likely to remain elevated for the next two years due to the company's sustained growth strategy. This is because PTTEP is unable to use much of its operating cash flow to fund its stated
