北美油气企业破产潮在今年剩余时间里将持续

据油价网2020年7月9日休斯顿报道，路透社日前援引国际律师事务所海恩斯和布恩律师事务所（Haynes和Boone）的一份报告报道说，北美油气企业的破产潮在今年剩余的时间里将持续。

报告称，在今年第一季度末疫情大流行和油价战爆发以后，北美油气企业在第二季度开始时出现了一波破产潮。

根据海恩斯和布恩律师事务所公布的统计数据，仅在今年第二季度北美就有超过18家油气生产企业破产，这是自2016年油价暴跌以来最高季度破产数。今年到目前为止，北美已有41家石油生产企业和油田服务企业寻求破产保护。

能源投资银行Tudor,Pickering,Holt的能源战略家迈克尔·布拉德利在去年年底曾表示，即使没有爆发疫情大流行或者石油价格战，北美油气企业的一系列破产是意料之中的，即使在2019年，北美油气企业持有垃圾债券的违约利息已处于创纪录的水平，能源行业陷入困境的企业比其他任何行业都要多。

当然，这些陷入困境的油气企业都对2020年油价回升抱有希望。

没有什么比今年的情况更糟了。

今年迄今已看到了切萨皮克能源公司，钻石海上钻井公司和怀廷石油公司先后宣布破产。

海恩斯和布恩律师事务所表示，尽管油价已经反弹，但目前每桶40美元的油价仍不足以让负债累累的页岩生产企业摆脱厄运。40美元的油价也不足以让页岩企业偿还沉重的债务。

挪威著名能源研究和商业情报公司雷斯塔能源公司（Rystad Energy ）今年4月曾警告称，若油价维持在每桶20美元，美国可能有多达530家石油企业申请破产保护。

李峻 编译自 油价网

原文如下：

North American Oil And Gas Companies Continue To Go Bankrupt At $40 Oil

The rash of oil and gas bankruptcies in North America is set to continue for the remainder of 2020, a report by Haynesand Boone cited by Reuters shows.

After the coronavirus pandemic and oil price war set in at the end of the first quarter, the second quarter began with awave of bankruptcies in the oil and gas sector in North America, according to the report.

There have been more than 18 producer bankruptcies in Q2 alone, according to Haynes and Boone—it is the highestquarterly figure since 2016 during the previous oil price crash. So far this year, 41 oil producers and oilfield servicefirms have sought bankruptcy protection.

Even without the coronavirus pandemic or the oil price war, the flurry of bankruptcies were to be expected, withcompanies holding junk-rated bonds defaulting on interest payments at record levels even in 2019, with more distressedcompanies in the energy sector than in any other, Michael Bradley, energy strategist with Tudor, Pickering, Holt said atthe end of last year.

Of course, these distressed companies were all holding out hope that oil prices would recover in 2020.

Nothing could have been further from how this year is playing out.

This year has seen Chesapeake Energy, Diamond Offshore Drilling, Whiting Petroleum,And even while prices have rebounded, the $40 per barrel oil price right now will not be sufficient to stave off doom forthe debt-laden shale producer, Haynes and Boone said. $40 oil will not be enough for shale companies to make good ontheir hefty debt obligations.

Rystad Energy in April warned that as many as 530 U.S. oil companies could file for bankruptcy protection if oil hadstayed at $20 per barrel.