Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA is seeking to issue up to $4.7 billion in debt securities to settle unpaid bills to contractors, according to a document seen by Reuters, as the cash-strapped firm scrambles to cope with low oil prices. The proposal signals PDVSA’s increasing reliance on complex financial engineering to make ends meet after a slump in crude output and a severely depressed economy left it struggling to tap cheaper and more traditional forms of credit. The quiet issuance of securities known as promissory notes could dampen a recent surge in investor confidence that PDVSA would avoid default through a $5.3 billion bond swap plan that is meant to help ease its payment burden in the coming months. A PDVSA [PDVSA.UL] PowerPoint presentation drawn up in June that has not previously been made public said the company has proposed issuing the promissory notes to 63 companies. PDVSA said […]