MEXICO CITY (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 12, 2013--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'B' senior unsecured debt rating to Petroleos de Venezuela S.A.'s (PDVSA; B/Negative/--) $4.5 billion notes due 2026. The notes benefit from the unconditional and irrevocable guarantee of payment by PDVSA Petroleo S.A. (not rated), PDVSA's exploration-and-production subsidiary. The rating on the notes is based on our corporate credit rating on PDVSA. The rating on PDVSA reflects, in turn, our opinion that there is an "almost certain" likelihood of government extraordinary support to PDVSA under financial distress scenarios, extraordinary financial burden under sovereign distress scenario, and our assessment of the company's 'b' stand-alone credit profile (SACP). Our assessment of an "almost certain" likelihood of extraordinary support is
