<article><p class="lead">Venezuelan state-owned PdV paid $949mn in principal and interest on a 2020 bond, the only one of its debt issuances that is not in default, financial sector executives told <i>Argus</i>.</p><p>The payments, which had been expected despite the company´s severe financial distress, saves PdV from potential bondholder claims on its US refining subsidiary Citgo. The payments were due on 27 October.</p><p>The bond payments include $842mn in principal and $107mn in interest.</p><p>The 2020 bond is secured by 50.1pc of the shares of Citgo´s indirect parent company PdV Holding. The other 49.9pc is pledged to Russian state-controlled Rosneft for an oil-backed loan of $1.5bn.</p><p>Citgo´s fate remains cloudy because of a separate court action by former Canadian mining company Crystallex, which is seeking to enforce an arbitration claim for the takeover of its gold mining assets in Venezuela.</p><p>PdV will owe another $71mn in interest in April 2019 and $842mn in principal in October 2019 on the 2020 bond.</p></article>
