Gavilan Resources LLC, an oil-and-gas company formed by buyout firm Blackstone Group Inc., has filed for bankruptcy protection, a victim of the collapse in energy prices and a long-running commercial dispute with a rival Texas shale driller, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Houston-based company on Friday sought protection from creditors under chapter 11, prompted by the “precipitous decline in oil prices from the combined effect of the Covid-19 pandemic and the flooding of oil markets by warring international producers,” namely Russia and Saudi Arabia, David E. Roberts, Jr., Gavilan’s chief executive, said in papers filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston. Roberts also blamed Gavilan’s financial difficulties on “an increasingly unworkable relationship” with Sanchez Energy Corp., a rival Texas oil-and-gas company that filed for bankruptcy last year. Since the fall of 2018, the two companies have been sparring over the rights to oil and gas acreage in the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas they jointly acquired from Anadarko Petroleum Corp. for $2.3 billion. Gavilan is putting its assets on the bankruptcy-auction block while continuing its legal fight with Sanchez over the Eagle Ford rights, Roberts said. Sanchez and Gavilan have each accused the other of defaulting on a joint development agreement to operate the oil and gas assets they acquired. Gavilan has alleged that Sanchez deviated from an agreed-upon work plan for at least 20 wells and then refused to divide up the assets, a claim Gavilan disputes.
