By Dan Molinski
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuela's state-run energy company Petroleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA, on Friday reported a consolidated financial debt of $21.4 billion at the end of 2009, with most of that coming from outstanding petrobonds.

The report on PDVSA's Web site did not provide comparison figures for previous years, but a year ago PDVSA reported its 2008 consolidated financial debt at $13.4 billion.

PDVSA, one of the world's largest oil companies, was gripped with lower global crude oil prices in 2009 that reduced revenues. At the same time, it was hit with rising costs as the company's payroll ballooned to nearly 100,000 employees after President Hugo Chavez nationalized the oil services sector. The need to help pay for Chavez's socialist spending also was a drag on PDVSA's bottom line, which forced the company to increase its borrowing significantly.

Despite the soaring debt load, the Venezuelan government's decision Jan. 8 to devalue its currency by half is expected to give the oil company an immediate boost to its budget. The devaluation immediately doubles the company's revenue from oil sales in local currency, making it much more able to meet payroll and bolivar-denominated debts.

Days after the devaluation, on Jan. 13, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its outlook on PDVSA to stable from negative, saying there's an "extremely high" likelihood that the country would provide timely and sufficient extraordinary support to PDVSA in the event of financial distress.

Still, the debts are mounting, and the devaluation does little to ease its dollar-denominated debts.

At the end of 2009, PDVSA had $13.8 billion in outstanding bonds and $3.1 billion in loans. That compares with $7.5 billion in bonds at the end of 2008, and $3.3 billion in loans.

Other debts at the end of 2009 include $2.4 billion related to its U.S. subsidiary, Citgo. That's slightly higher than the $2.3 billion of Citgo-related debts at the end of 2008.

-By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; (58) 414-120-5738; dan.molinski@dowjones.com