Credit Markets Opening to Debt-Loaded EPs

摘要

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 EPs 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 EP 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.