Korea National Oil Corp.'s Proposed 300 Million Swiss Franc Senior Unsecured Notes Rated 'AA'

HONG KONG (S&P Global Ratings) Sept. 30, 2019--S&P Global Ratings today assigned its 'AA' long-term issue rating to the Swiss franc 300 million senior unsecured notes due 2024 issued by Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC; AA/Stable/--). The issuer plans to use the proceeds to meet its debt obligations. The issue rating is subject to our review of the final issuance documentation. Our rating on KNOC is equalized with the sovereign credit rating on the Republic of Korea (AA/Stable/A-1+) because we expect an almost certain likelihood of extraordinary government support if the company were to suffer financial distress. Wholly owned by the government, KNOC plays a critical role as the sole policy arm for managing the country's petroleum reserves and improving

...September 29, 2019 HONG KONG (S&P Global Ratings) Sept. 30, 2019--S&P Global Ratings today assigned its '##' long-term issue rating to the Swiss franc 300 million senior unsecured notes due 2024 issued by Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC; ##/Stable/--). The issuer plans to use the proceeds to meet its debt obligations. The issue rating is subject to our review of the final issuance documentation. Our rating on KNOC is equalized with the sovereign credit rating on the Republic of Korea (##/Stable/A-1+) because we expect an almost certain likelihood of extraordinary government support if the company were to suffer financial distress. Wholly owned by the government, KNOC plays a critical role as the sole policy arm for managing the country's petroleum reserves and improving its oil self-sufficiency. As of end-June 2019, KNOC's capital structure consisted of about Korean won (KRW) 10.9 trillion of unsecured debt at the parent level as well as about KRW0.7 trillion of secured debt and about KRW2.2...

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