As Oil Prices Fall, Oil & Gas Bankruptcies Rise

03/11/15
While a new report from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts shows a 46% decline in chapter 11 filings from 2010 to 2014, there appears to be an uptick in energy related filings, especially by Texas-based companies.
The report from the Administrative Office shows that chapter 11 filings decreased from 14,191 in fiscal year 2010 to 7,658 in fiscal year 2014, a decline of 46% in just four years.    A separate report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows the price of West Texas Intermediate Crude dropping from over $100 per barrel in July 2014 to just over $50 per barrel in January 2015.  While bankruptcy is typically a lagging indicator in the economy, oil and gas related bankruptcy filings appear to be on the rise with at least three publicly traded companies filing this month.   
I was able to locate nine energy-related filings with aggregate debt of $2.4 billion in the past few months.   Although all of the Debtors except for one are Texas-based, the filings are scattered among venues including the Districts of Delaware and Utah and the Southern and Western Districts of Texas.


Date
Court
Case #
Case Name
Debts
10/10/14
DE
14-12308
Endeavour Operating Corporation (Houston, TX)
$1.2B
10/31/14
UT
14-31632
Marion Energy, Inc. (McKinney, TX)
$171M
11/9/14
DE
14-12514
KiOR, Inc. (Pasadena, TX)
$242M
1/15/15
WDTX
15-10003
WBH Energy, LP (Austin, TX)
$49M
1/27/15
SDTX
15-60003
Royalty Partners, LLC  (Houston, TX)
$1.6M
2/20/15
Alberta, Canada
25-1963517
Ivanhoe Energy Inc. (Calgary)
$103M CDN
3/3/15
DE
15-10458
Cal Dive International, Inc. (Houston, TX)
$286M+
3/8/15
WDTX
15-10336
Dune Energy, Inc. (Houston, TX)
$105M+
3/9/15
SDTX
15-60016
BPZ Resources, Inc. (Houston, TX)
$229M+


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