Last month, we discussed the increase in oil and gas bankruptcy filings since May of 2019 – the full blog post can be found here. Haynes and Boone, LLP released a new Oil Patch Bankruptcy Monitor as of September 30, 2019, which can be found here, showing that even more have been added to the list.
Since our last post on the subject, which reflected the August 2019 data, seven more companies have filed for bankruptcy in the last month or so, according to the September Oil Patch Bankruptcy Monitor.
In addition to the fact that seven more companies have been added to the list, the map of 2015-2019 E&P Bankruptcy Filings By Location found in the September Oil Patch Bankruptcy Monitor is similarly concerning; Texas is reportedly leading the charge with 89 filings, followed by Delaware with 31 filings, Canada with 18 filings, and Colorado and Louisiana with 11 filings each.
The September Oil Patch Bankruptcy Monitor also shows that the third quarter of 2019 has been the highest quarter of cumulative North American E&P Bankruptcy Filings since 2015…the upward trend of this graphical depiction is startling. As of the publication of this blog, according to Bloomberg Energy, WTI Crude is at $54.01 per barrel and Brent Crude is at $59.92 per barrel, which is a general decline from this time last month. As always, it is difficult to try to discern what this means.
Stay tuned and we will keep you posted on oil and gas industry insights in light of the recent increase in bankruptcies.
