Brazilian oil giant announces new financing agreements

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 23 (Chinese media) -- Oil and gas giant Petrobras announced Tuesday the extension of financing agreements signed with two state-owned banks earlier this year.

According to the state-owned company, two agreements with the Banco do Brasil, which were signed in the first half of 2008 and due in the first half of 2009, have been pre-paid and renewed with a new due date in 2011. The total amount involved in the agreements was two billion reais (840 million U.S. dollars).

Petrobras also said that it has paid in advance the funds it raised in late October with Caixa Economica Federal. The agreement was renewed for a total amount of 3.6 billion reais (1.28 billion U.S. dollars), and the due date was also set for early 2011.

Petrobras was recently said to be in financial trouble. The company denied the speculation, however, saying its financing increased because of the global financial crisis and a restriction of credit in the international market.

Petrobras decided last week to postpone of the release of its 2009-2013 business plan for a fifth time, citing the board of directors' inability to properly evaluate the plan due to market uncertainties.