S&P maintains Qatar Petroleum rating at AA-

CAIRO – 29 August 2017: International credit rating agency S&P Global affirmed Monday AA- ratings on Qatar Petroleum (QP), with a negative outlook.

S&P’s assessment came as a result of QP's critical role in supporting the Qatari economy, taking into account the company’s substantial contribution to the government's balance sheet.

“We equalize our ratings on QP with our ratings on Qatar, reflecting our opinion that there is an almost certain likelihood that the government of Qatar would provide timely and sufficient extraordinary support to QP in the event of financial distress,” S&P said.
Last week, S&P affirmed Qatar’s economy outlook at AA-/A-1+ for long and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign ratings.

The rating agency said the outlook is reflecting S&P’s view of the long-term consequences of the boycott on economic and fiscal abilities.

In the report, S&P conditioned raising the rating for Qatar if local institutions moved faster than their expectations; meanwhile, the rating could be lowered in case the boycott reduced economic wealth and liquid assets further.