Post by Logan on Jan 20, 2016 17:02:11 GMT -6
Oil below $30 fans wipeout fears among U.S. shale survival artists
Across oil fields from Texas to North Dakota fears are growing that crude's plunge below $30 a barrel is more than just another market milestone and marks a countdown to an endgame for many shale producers that so far have braved the 18-month downturn.
Oil prices tumbled by more than a fifth this month to 12-year lows 70 percent below mid-2014 levels and traders brace for more declines as world production keeps outpacing demand.
Yet many of around 50 listed U.S. independent oil producers and scores of smaller ones need $40-$60 a barrel to break even, according to several analysts. A longer spell of $30 oil will confront them with stark choices: bankruptcy, debt writedowns in return for deep concessions to creditors or fire sales of assets at a time when potential buyers are skittish.
"There's no place to make cuts anymore. There's not much else you can do now. Companies are losing money on a monthly basis. It's bad everywhere," said Raymond Lasseigne, president of privately-held TMR Exploration in Bossier City, Louisiana. "I went through the bust in the 1980s and it's beginning to feel like that again."
Continued at www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-oil-shale-idUSKCN0UY0FC .
Across oil fields from Texas to North Dakota fears are growing that crude's plunge below $30 a barrel is more than just another market milestone and marks a countdown to an endgame for many shale producers that so far have braved the 18-month downturn.
Oil prices tumbled by more than a fifth this month to 12-year lows 70 percent below mid-2014 levels and traders brace for more declines as world production keeps outpacing demand.
Yet many of around 50 listed U.S. independent oil producers and scores of smaller ones need $40-$60 a barrel to break even, according to several analysts. A longer spell of $30 oil will confront them with stark choices: bankruptcy, debt writedowns in return for deep concessions to creditors or fire sales of assets at a time when potential buyers are skittish.
"There's no place to make cuts anymore. There's not much else you can do now. Companies are losing money on a monthly basis. It's bad everywhere," said Raymond Lasseigne, president of privately-held TMR Exploration in Bossier City, Louisiana. "I went through the bust in the 1980s and it's beginning to feel like that again."
Continued at www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-oil-shale-idUSKCN0UY0FC .