A growing number of energy companies that have filed or will soon file for bankruptcy court protection are likely to be liquidated, with their prospects diminished by the latest falls in natural gas and oil prices, according to distressed investors and restructuring advisers.
Companies that restructure crippling debt loads can often emerge from bankruptcy and start life anew, but with the latest fall in energy prices, even a freshly capitalised balance sheet may not be enough to save the company.
‘Even if you take away all the debt, it is not clear some energy firms can operate,’ said one restructuring specialist. ‘Their basic economics requires oil to be considerably north of where it is. They can’t reorganise.’
In the case of Walter Energy, which filed for Chapter 11 a few months ago, the group said it would run out of money by early 2016 and has opted for a sale of substantially all of its assets, the LCD unit of Standard & Poor’s said.
Not a single creditor will be repaid at all but instead will receive a share in the proceeds from the sale, people involved in the situation said.
This post was published at David Stockmans Contra Corner on December 29, 2015.
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