Sinochem's debts increased materially in the first half of 2011, breaching our downgrade triggers, and are likely to remain high while the company is in a heavy-investment phase. We still see a "high likelihood" of extraordinary support from the government for the Chinese energy and chemicals trader, supporting a three-notch uplift in the rating. We are lowering our stand-alone credit profile of Sinochem HK to 'bb' and lowering the long-term corporate credit rating on Sinochem HK to 'BBB' from 'BBB+'. The stable outlook reflects our expectation that Sinochem HK's financial risk profile is likely to remain aggressive in the next 12-24 months, but its businesses will remain mostly stable. On Nov. 1, 2011, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services lowered its
