FINANCIAL INDUSTRY LOSING PATIENCE WITH OIL AND GAS DRILLERS

摘要

At a time when drillers can tap vast expanses of shale rock layers and bring forth what seems like endless supplies of oil and natural gas, they are now facing a new kind of rock that few companies can crack. Hardened by weak energy prices, defaults, bankruptcies and sagging bond returns, banks and energy investors are turning away from oil and natural gas producers, creating a credit crisis that is slowing production activity across the country. Meanwhile, the winds of climate change are blowing in the financial industry as a growing number of large banks are being pressured by environmental groups to stop investing in oil and natural gas exploration. According to a report from Hayes and Boone's Energy and Restructuring Practice Group, 2019 was not a good year for the oil and natural gas industry. The firm cites 50 energy company bankruptcies in just the first nine months of 2019, topping the bankruptcy pace set in 2018 when 48 energy companies failed over the full course of the year.