CITGO Announces Successful Completion of its $2.1 Billion Refinancing

HOUSTON, June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- CITGO Petroleum Corporation announced the successful completion of the refinancing of its $2.1 billion indebtedness, which strengthens the financial condition of the company by extending the maturity of its indebtedness and securing liquidity for its operations.

"This achievement clearly underscores CITGO's strength and the confidence of the international financial markets in the managerial and operational capacity of our company, which is particularly significant in the context of the current global economic instability that has impacted all productive sectors, including the refining industry," notes Alejandro Granado, CITGO's President.

The refinancing consists of a new 3-year $750 million revolving credit facility, a 5-year $350 million term loan, a 7-year $700 million term loan and a $300 million issue of 11.5% 7-year notes.  The bank facilities and the notes are secured by certain of CITGO's assets in the United States.

Even in difficult financial market conditions, the company successfully refinanced its debt capital structure.  The company maximized demand for term loan indebtedness and put in place a smaller high yield issuance.

All of the proceeds of the refinancing are being used to prepay previous debt and to fund investments in projects of improvement of CITGO's refined products' quality to produce ultra low sulfur diesel, and thus comply with regulations in force in the U.S. market. Closing of this transaction demonstrates the overwhelming support of the financial community and a broad group of institutional investors.

CITGO, based in Houston, is an independent refiner and marketer of transportation fuels, petrochemicals, industrial products and lubricants. CITGO is owned by PDV America, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., the national oil company of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

Disclaimer:

Certain information included in this press release may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". These statements relate to, among other things, expectations regarding refining margins, revenues, costs and expenses, margins, profitability, cash flows, capital expenditures, liquidity and capital resources, our working capital requirements, and other financial and operating items. These statements also relate to our industry, business strategy, goals and expectations concerning our market position and future operations. We have used the words "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "predict," "project," "will," "would" and similar terms and phrases to identify forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actually results to differ.

For more information, visit www.citgo.com.

SOURCE CITGO Petroleum Corporation