Energy Industry Could be Hit by Wave of Debt Defaults

Brace for a wave of defaults in the oil patch.

Energy companies that loaded up on debt during the oil boom are likely to have trouble paying back those loans. Oil prices have collapsed over 65% since the middle of last year to below $37 a barrel this week and there’s no recovery in sight.

It’s fueling financial turmoil on Wall Street with Standard & Poor’s Ratings Service recently warning that a stunning 50% of energy junk bonds are “distressed,” meaning they are at risk of default.
Overall, about $180 billion of debt is distressed. It’s the highest level since the end of the Great Recession and much of it is in energy companies.

“The wave of energy defaults looming in the wings could make for some very bumpy roads ahead in 2016,” Bespoke Investment Group wrote in a recent report. The firm described the junk bond market environment as “pretty terrible” lately.

That’s a dramatic change from recent go-go years, when the shale oil boom along with cheap borrowing costs allowed energy companies to take on loads of debt to fund expensive drilling operations.

U.S. oil production skyrocketed, creating a gigantic supply glut that is currently pushing prices lower and hurting the ability of many energy companies to repay their debt.

“The tide may be turning. Excess leverage during the good years has dented credit profiles,” analysts at research firm Markit wrote in a report published on Wednesday.

via CNN

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza