VietNamNet Bridge - State oil and gas group Petrovietnam has delayed a plan to sell offshore bonds worth US$1 billion, a state-run news website reported, after Vietnam's credit ratings were downgraded last year.

The Hanoi-based group postponed the issue, originally scheduled for the last quarter of 2010, because it was an "unfavorable time", Petrovietnam Chairman Dinh La Thang was quoted as saying in a VnExpress.net report posted late on Tuesday.

Thang gave no new timing for the issue.

The group had planned to put the proceeds of the bond towards funding needs of between $5 billion and $6 billion this year, the report said.

On December 29 Standard & Poor's Ratings Services became the third major rating agency, after Fitch and Moody's, to downgrade Vietnam.

The country's top coal miner, Vinacomin, and state utility Vietnam Electricity had also planned to issue overseas bonds in 2010.

Vinacomin postponed a plan to sell $500 million to $700 million worth of bonds in late November due to market uncertainty resulting from tension on the Korean peninsula and European debt problems, Informa Global Market said in a report.

Vietnam Electricity has yet to comment on progress on its plan.

Source: Reuters