US exploration and production companies are taking advantage of renewed access to credit markets -but instead of grabbing cash to grow, these firms are refinancing the heavy debt that weighs on many of the sector's biggest balance sheets. In August, several E&Ps carrying heavy debt loads managed to refinance billions of dollars' worth of near-term maturities (OD Mar.13'20). Among them, Antero Resources, Range Resources, Southwestern Energy and Occidental Petroleum -each with up to three times the average leverage of their peers -have issued new bonds to repay debt. The markets -whether debt or credit, public or private -have largely turned sour on the E&P space as it struggles to balance capital discipline, shareholder returns and the energy transition. But the Covid-19 pandemic that upended the economy also reset many industries, not the least of which is oil and gas.
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