State-run oil holding Petróleos de Venezuela (Pdvsa) is taking steps to execute an agreement to access a loan for USD 3.5 billion from Japanese Sumitomo and Itachu Corporation.

In accordance with the agreement, the loan will be paid with Venezuelan crude oil, said unofficial sources, as quoted by Dow Jones. Therefore, it is a future sale of oil, similar to a deal last year with Japanese Marubeni and Mitsui.

The payment with Venezuelan oil will be made under a dispatch schedule yet to be defined. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and a financial holding are acting as sureties of the arrangement.

Like in 2007, the funding is intended to leverage the business plan called Siembra Petrolera (Oil Sowing). This time, refineries of El Palito, in central Carabobo state, and Puerto La Cruz, eastern Anzoátegui state will be streamlined. This refurbishment had been planned a long time ago.

Ending 2007, the debt of Pdvsa and subsidiaries was, in the aggregate, of USD 16 billion, out of which more than USD 13 billion were taken up last year by the issuance of public debt bonds.