Energy Default Alarms Get Louder as Pain Seen Lasting Into 2016
- Oil slump may push junk default rate to four-year high
- 23 energy companies defaulted this year, Moody's says
This article is for subscribers only.
Eleven months of depressed oil prices are threatening to topple more companies in the energy industry.
Four firms owing a combined $4.8 billion warned this week that they may be at the brink, with Penn Virginia Corp., Paragon Offshore Plc, Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. and Emerald Oil Inc. saying their auditors have expressed doubts that they can continue as going concerns. Falling oil prices are squeezing access to credit, they said. And everyone from Morgan Stanley to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is predicting that energy prices won’t rebound anytime soon.