Venezuela will not change PDVSA bond conditions

CARACAS, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Venezuela's PDVSA will not lower the price of a $3 billion issue of 2014, 2015 and 2016 bonds launched this week, the oil company said on Wednesday, despite signs of low demand from traders.

The issue comes just days after Venezuela sold $5 billion in sovereign debt and uptake at the start of the week was slow, with investors saying its 138 percent price was too high.

"We ratify the terms and conditions established," in the prospectus," PDVSA said in a statement adding it expected sufficient demand for the sale, which closes this week.

Investors in Venezuela primarily use the bonds, which can be bought with the local bolivar currency but sold in dollars, as a tool to sidestep a strict exchange rate regime.

At the current price, the bonds give an implicit exchange rate of about 5 bolivars to the dollar, very close to the black market rate. The bolivar is officially fixed at 2.15 per U.S. dollar VEFFIX=.

The socialist government of President Hugo Chavez has borrowed billions of dollars to reduce the gap between the black market and official exchange rates without devaluing the bolivar.

The weak real value of the national currency helps fuel the rapid pace of inflation in the import-dependent country

(Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Editing by Diane Craft)