Nearly 70 U.S. oil and gas companies have filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and 2016, and they now produce the equivalent of about 1 million barrels a day. This is about the same as before they declared bankruptcy, according to Wood Mackenzie, representing about 5 percent of U.S. oil-and-gas output, the Wall Street Journal reported today. That resilience has kept energy inventories flush and prices capped. Oil shot to $50 a barrel this summer, but has had trouble making much progress beyond that mark. The long-term decline in prices has led to the bankruptcies, but also to massive cost-cutting that helped producers keep mines and wells profitable. Peabody Energy Corp., Arch Coal Inc. and Alpha Natural Resources Inc. — three of the five largest U.S. coal miners — have all filed for bankruptcy in the past 18 months. They accounted for about 36 percent of U.S. coal supply in the first half of 2015. This year, production declined only in line with the rest of the sector, and their share for the first six months was nearly unchanged at about 33 percent, according to IHS Global Energy. Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources recently emerged from bankruptcy. Read more. (Subscription required.)
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