Global ratings agency Moody’s Investor Service has maintained a healthy corporate outlook for key Saudi and UAE state-owned oil and gas companies.

More than 80 per cent of the 39 corporates and project finance issuers that Moody’s rates in the GCC have direct or indirect government ownership.

At present, no state-owned enterprises are rated higher than their sovereign. Moody’s states it is rare to see corporates having better ratings than their respective sovereign institutions due to strong credit linkages in most cases.

The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic) has held on to a ‘A1 stable’ rating, the same as the Moody’s credit rating for Saudi Arabia.

Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), which merged with Mubadala Development Company last year to become Mubadala Investment Company, has maintained its Moody’s ‘Aa2 stable’ rating, the same as the UAE’s overall credit rating.

Moody’s continues to rate the former Mubadala Development Company, which has retained the ‘Aa2 stable’ rating, as a separate entity due to the combined company being a “fairly new entity”, a Moody’s official told MEED.

The Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa), the government-owned firm that focuses on oil and gas assets abroad, has earned a eight-notch uplift to secure an ‘A3 stable’ rating.

The official said Moody's does not rate Saudi Aramco and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc).

‘Negative rating outlooks on Qatar (‘Aa3 negative’), Oman (‘Baa2 negative’) and Bahrain (‘B1 negative’) suggest higher probability of downward pressure in these economies and corporates, as opposed to in the UAE, Kuwait (‘Aa2 stable’) and Saudi Arabia where the sovereign outlooks are stable', Moody’s states.