ARC Ratings, S.A. (ARC Ratings) has affirmed the “BB+” rating accorded to the EUR 360.0 million bond loan issued by Entidade Nacional para o Setor Energético, E.P.E. (ENSE), on 6 August 2008. ARC Ratings also changed the rating outlook to positive, from stable, driven by the continuous recovery in oil prices, that is expected to be sustainable according to consensus forecasts, and, consequently, the recovery of the coverage of financial debt by the oil products reserves at market value, and increase of investments in debt securities issued by the Portuguese Government that allowed to improve the coverage of net financial debt by these reserves. In addition, being a “State corporate entity”, ARC assumes that if the monitoring activity of all energy sector is not self-sustaining, ENSE will benefit from Portuguese Government financing, whose rating outlook assigned by ARC has also improved to positive, from stable, on 18 May 2018.