CM - It’s not smooth sailing on the Chesapeake balance sheet - May 2020Chesapeake Energy Corp. withdrew its guidance for 2020 that it had issued in late February, but it did clue investors into a contemplated bankruptcy in its filing covering Q1 results with the SEC. Though the company hired law firm Kirkland & Ellis and financial advisers Rothschild & Co. in March to help manage its $9.0 billion debt load while navigating current market conditions, Chesapeake management expressed “substantial doubt” that the company would survive, let alone be able to...
May 15, 2020
CM - Whiting files RSA & reorg plan to extinguish $2.3B-plus in debt - May 2020Whiting Petroleum Corp., which declared bankruptcy on April 1, reached a restructuring support agreement with some of its debtholders that would give them overwhelming control of the company post-emergence. The company said it filed a consensual Chapter 11 reorganization plan April 24, more than three weeks after first petitioning for protection from the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The RSA and the plan would deleverage more than $2.3 billion by...
May 15, 2020
BS - Whiting Petroleum Corp. Highlights - April 14, 2020Whiting Petroleum Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 1 on fears that the borrowing capacity on its $1 billion loan would be reduced. Company attorney Brian Schartz told the court that Whiting thought its borrowing base wouldn’t go “anywhere but down.” The shale E&P company becomes the first sizeable firm in its category to file for protection. It said that certain holders of a combined $2.2 billion principal amount of its senior unsecured notes across four issues agreed...
Apr 14, 2020
CM - Bankruptcies: Hello, goodbye, stuck in the middle - April 2020Bakken-focused Whiting Petroleum Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 1 on fears that the borrowing capacity on its $1 billion loan would be reduced. Company attorney Brian Schartz told the court that Whiting thought its borrowing base wouldn’t go “anywhere but down.” The shale E&P company becomes the first sizeable firm in its category to file for protection. It said that certain holders of a combined $2.2 billion principal amount of its senior unsecured notes across four...
Apr 03, 2020
CM - Oil in the time of coronavirus - April 2020US oil production has been holding at near record highs even as demand for gasoline falls, but it’s coming under pressure to tap the breaks on pumping out high volumes that are helping to bring prices down to historic lows and pushing cash-strapped companies to bankruptcy. Whiting Petroleum (PG.1) is the first high-profile shale producer to file a petition in what analysts believe may be a new parade of Chapter 11 filings. Oil executives themselves have asked the Texas Railroad Commission to...
Apr 03, 2020
PS - Bakken Briegs - March 30, 2020Hess Corp. reduced its 2020 capex by $800 million to $2.2 billion. The company will go from six rigs in the Bakken to one by the end of May. Most discretionary exploration and offshore drilling activities, excluding Guyana, will also be deferred. Production guidance is now 325,000-330,000 boe/d, excluding Libya, compared to the former target of 330,000-335,000 boe/d; Bakken volumes are expected to be 175,000 boe/d in 2020, down by 5,000 boe/d from the previous guidance. The company’s...
Mar 30, 2020
CM - Analyst Notes - September 13, 2019Chesapeake Energy (NYSE: CHK; $1.89-Sept. 10; Hold; PT-$2) CHK announced that it has entered into an exchange agreement with a large investor to exchange $40MM of principal of its 5.75% Convertible Preferred Stock and $548MM aggregate principal amount of various notes for 250,721,554 shares (~15% of shares outstanding) of the company's common stock. While equity dilution is certainly a concern, we think it takes a back seat to extending the liquidity runway with survival being the...
Sep 13, 2019
A&D - People & Companies August 30, 2019EQT Corp. announced that EVP and COO Gary E. Gould resigned Aug. 7. The company then eliminated the COO role. Comstock Resources appointed Ronald Mills as finance and investor relations VP. He is joining the new management team put in place with the company’s recent $2.2 billion acquisition of Covey Park Energy and will assist it with the corporate planning, capital markets transactions and investor relations. Concluding a formal search, Gulfport Energy Corp. named Quentin R....
Aug 30, 2019
PS - People & Companies - August 2019Gulfport Energy announced Quentin R. Hicks will join the company as EVP and CFO and report to CEO David M. Wood. Hicks will assume his new duties on Aug. 26. He most recently was EVP, CFO and treasurer at Halcón Resources, which hired Ragan T. Altizer as Hicks’ replacement. Altizer served as the CFO at Ajax Resources from October 2015 to last October. QEP Resources has entered a cooperation agreement with affiliates of Elliott Management, which own 4.9% of the company’s stock. As part...
Aug 20, 2019
A&D - QEP ends review, opts to remain an independent company - August 2019Denver-based QEP Resources concluded its strategic review, choosing to remain an
independent company after Elliott Management Corp., which owns 4.9% of the company,
offered to buy the Permian and Williston-focused company in January for $2.54 billion.
Instead, the two companies entered a cooperation agreement that will allow them to work
together to identify two board nominees. The two new directors are expected to have strong
operating backgrounds in unconventional development and to be seated...
Aug 08, 2019
A&D - People & Companies - August 08, 2019Comstock Resources expanded its
board of directors to include Covey Park
Energy’s former co-CEO John Jacobi
and Jordan Marye, a managing partner of
Denham Capital. Denver-based Extraction Oil & Gas
announced the resignation of former US
Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans
from its board, citing personal reasons.
He served on the board since December
2016, during which time the company
grew to become one of the largest acreage
holders and producers in Colorado. Halcón...
Aug 08, 2019
CM - People & Companies - August 02, 2019Alta Mesa Resources, Inc.
announced that VP and chief accounting
officer Ronald J. Smith was terminated
effective July 19. Baker Hughes, a
GE company named Jud
Bailey VP of investor relations, succeeding
Philipp Mueller, who resigned. Bailey joins
BHGE from Wells Fargo Securities. Chaparral Energy, Inc. elected
Marcus Rowland interim chairman of the
board effective July 25. He replaces Robert
F. Heinemann, who resigned on July 10. Comstock Resources expanded its
board of...
Aug 02, 2019
A&D - News Briefs - June 12, 2020CH4 Energy, backed by NGP Energy Capital Management, is shopping operated Delaware Basin assets in Reeves County, Texas. The offering covers 1,317 net acres (1,328 gross), which include two undeveloped sections with strong offset production and three-year lease terms. There are 22 operated wells, 16 shallow producers and three injector and disposal wells; and three productive horizons, Third Bone Spring, Wolfcamp A and Wolfcamp B—plus emerging First Bone Spring potential being tested in the...
Jun 12, 2020
IS - Oceania Briefs - May 8, 2020Triangle Energy has identified three prospects that can be drilled and developed from its existing Cliff Head Alpha platform off Western Australia, as well as two new longer-term development prospects. The company upgraded its estimate of unrisked contingent and prospective resources for the Cliff Head block to 3.52 MMboe and 9.46 MMboe, respectively. The largest prospect is the 5.2 MMboe Mentelle Updip, which could materially impact the life span of Cliff Head. The platform was producing...
May 08, 2020
CM - News Briefs - September 13, 2019Gasoline retailer Murphy USA Inc. will use cash on hand and the proceeds from an offering of $500 million in 4.75% senior notes due 2029 to redeem the $500 million outstanding in 6% senior notes due 2023. The 2029 notes are priced at par. The tender offer consideration for each $1,000 principal of the 2023 notes accepted for purchase will be $1,022.50. Noteholders representing $144.5 million took the tender, with payment Sept. 13, when the 2029 note offering should close. Whiting...
Sep 13, 2019