A group of Whiting Petroleum Corp. bondholders is balking at the company’s restructuring plan, saying the shale driller had the money to pay them in full but chose to file for bankruptcy instead, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Denver-based Whiting, which drills in North Dakota, the Rocky Mountains and Texas, filed for bankruptcy in April, one of the biggest energy companies to fall victim to the crash in oil prices since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S. The company had planned to pay down $190 million in convertible bonds that matured April 1, but changed course after consulting with another group of bondholders whose debt was due to mature between 2021 and 2026, according to an objection to Whiting’s plan-disclosure statement filed by the convertible bondholders. Preserving liquidity was the priority in the oil patch when oil futures briefly dipped below $20 a barrel in March amid fears of the pandemic’s impact on the economy and a Saudi-Russian price war that flooded global crude markets. Now, Whiting’s convertible bondholders say that the company’s restructuring plan benefits the rival bondholder group at their expense. They want the company to reveal more information about how it reached a decision to file for bankruptcy and formulated the proposed restructuring plan as well as details on alternatives it may have considered.
