S&P boosts Berry

Standard & Poor's said it raised its corporate credit rating on Berry Petroleum Co. to BB from BB-.

The outlook is stable.

At the same time, the agency said that it raised the issue rating on the senior subordinated notes to B+ from B while the recovery rating remains at 6.

The agency noted that the ratings action follows its revision of the company's outlook to positive on Dec. 27 and reflects the company's successful execution of its growth strategy and increasing production while maintaining moderate financial leverage.

According to S&P, the ratings on Berry reflect its heavy oil concentration, high lifting costs for the capital-intensive oil fields, lower operating margins relative to its peers and volatile commodity prices while tempering these weaknesses are the relatively low-risk nature of the company's reserve base, competitive finding and development costs, good reserve replacement and a fairly moderate capital structure.

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