U.S. oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) partnership Hilcorp Energy I L.P. recently closed its acquisition of Alaska assets from BP PLC and three other, smaller acquisitions in South Texas. As a result of these acquisitions, Hilcorp's oil and gas production and reserves base has increased, supporting the partnership's business risk profile. At the same time, we continue to expect Hilcorp's debt leverage to remain below 2x on a sustained basis. We are raising our corporate credit rating on Hilcorp and our issue-level rating on the partnership's senior unsecured debt to 'BB+' from 'BB'. The outlook is stable, reflecting our expectation that future development and acquisition spending will be funded prudently such that credit measures remain adequate for the
