PetroQuest Energy Inc. fell almost 9 percent in late trading after skipping an interest payment and saying it could face bankruptcy, joining energy companies whose flow of cash has been cut to a trickle by the industry’s prolonged slump, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The oil and gas producer may consider new financing arrangements, “joint ventures, asset sales, exchange offers and a filing under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code,” PetroQuest said in a regulatory filing. The company invoked a 30-day grace period on a payment that was due yesterday on its 10 percent senior notes maturing in 2017, according to the filing. At least 90 North American oil and gas producers have filed for bankruptcy since the start of 2015, according to data from Haynes and Boone LLP. S&P Global Ratings counts 65 defaults by energy companies this year, according to a report last month. PetroQuest, which operates mainly in the Texas, Gulf Coast Basin and Oklahoma regions, said that it “believes that it has current liquidity sufficient to make the approximately $6.8 million semi-annual interest payment,” but declined to do so pending the outcome of debt exchange offers under way. Read more.
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