Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has begun talks with Credit Suisse AG for a possible swap of bonds due in 2017, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. PDVSA has seen its income fall drastically due to the drop in oil prices and is seeking to alleviate the heavy debt payments required in 2016 and 2017, Reuters reported. The oil company is due to pay in November some $2.3 billion in amortization for bonds due in 2017, an amount representing more than half of what PDVSA owes in total payments by the end of the year, according to Thomson Reuters data. PDVSA had begun conversations with the Swiss bank to make the offer to bondholders "as soon as possible", a Venezuelan government source said. Credit Suisse has not yet reached any agreement with PDVSA and it may not be the only institution that is advising on a possible bond swap, said another source familiar with the talks.
