Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PVDSA has activated the 30-day grace period on coupon payments on three of its bonds, analysts at JPMorgan said in a report on Monday.

PDVSA faced coupon payments totaling $539m last week, the report said. Coupon payments were due on PDVSA’s 2021, 2024 and 2035 bonds. JPMorgan said PDVSA had so far paid $135m in interest on its 2026 bonds, citing information from the paying agent Citi.
A PDVSA spokesperson could not be reached for comment. JPMorgan also said the company had not responded to its calls or emails.
The report by analysts Javier Zorrilla and Ben Ramsey said JPMorgan expects PDVSA will eventually make the payments. They cited Venezuela’s currency reserves, which stand at nearly $11bn, according to the Venezuelan central bank.
“PDVSA has a 30-day grace period to make payments on the coupons before it becomes an event of default,” Zorrilla and Ramsey said in the report. “We still believe PDVSA will make these payments during the grace period.”
However, the delay “highlights the cash difficulties and mismanagement of PDVSA with regards to its liabilities,” the analysts said. 
The missed coupon payments come nearly a month after investors holding some $2.8bn in debt issued by PDVSA agreed to swap their holdings for $3.4bn in new securities maturing in 2020, a move that eased investors concerns over a possible debt default. The deal provided some breathing room to the cash-strapped company but fell short of the $5.3bn in bonds PDVSA had hoped to exchange. 
Last month, Fitch Ratings downgraded PDVSA’s credit rating to CC from CCC, citing PDVSA’s “weak” liquidity position. The rating agency also said the company could still face difficulties making scheduled debt payments.