Swift Energy Co received U.S. bankruptcy court approval yesterday to borrow up to $15 million, giving the oil-and-gas exploration company time to negotiate a refinancing deal that is key to its turnaround, Reuters reported yesterday. Swift filed for chapter 11 on Dec. 31, joining about 40 other energy companies that entered bankruptcy in 2015 as oil prices plunged to less than $37 a barrel from more than $100 a barrel in June 2014. At Swift's first court hearing in Wilmington, Delaware on Tuesday, lawyers stressed the importance of moving the Houston-based company's reorganization quickly. Swift faces a looming deadline for refinancing a $330 million loan, the main obstacle to its plan to emerge from bankruptcy in about four months and shed nearly $1 billion in debt.
