On June 8, Moody’s Investors Service has upgraded to A1 from A2 the issuer rating of oil and gas company BP and the long-term debt ratings of its guaranteed subsidiaries.

Concurrently, Moody’s said the rating agency affirmed its Prime-1 commercial paper ratings of BP Capital Markets plc and BP Corporation North America, Inc. The outlook on all ratings is positive.

“Our decision to upgrade BP to A1 factors in the increased clarity around the size and timing of remaining cash payments linked to the Deep Water Horizon incident, as well as expected improvements to BP’s credit metrics and its strong operating performance despite high oil price volatility,” said Elena Nadtotchi, Vice President and Senior Credit Officer at Moody’s.

Meanwhile, Moody’s has changed to stable from negative the outlook on the ratings of multinational oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell and its subsidiaries. At the same time, Moody’s has affirmed the Aa2 issuer rating, (P)Aa2 senior unsecured MTN Program rating and Prime-1 commercial paper rating of Shell.

“We stabilised the outlook on Shell’s Aa2 rating on expectations that its financial profile will improve into 2019 on the back of ongoing earnings and cash flow recovery and accelerated post-acquisition de-leveraging, funded by $30 billion of planned asset sales,” Nadtotchi, said.

https://www.neweurope.eu/article/moodys-upgrades-bps-rating-changes-outlook-shell/