Haynes and Boone Oil Patch Bankruptcy Monitor Shows Rise in E&P Chapter 11 Filings Totaling about $13 Billion in Debt

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Nov 20, 2015, 04:08 ET

HOUSTON, Nov. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Lawyers in the Haynes and Boone, LLP Bankruptcy and Energy practices have released their first Oil Patch Bankruptcy Monitor, which details a rising tide of 2015 exploration and production company Chapter 11 filings totaling about $13 billion in cumulative secured and unsecured debt.

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The report contains a list of North American E&P filings, breaking them down by filing location and by amount of secured and unsecured debt by location. Texas leads North America in all filings with 16, while Delaware has been the venue with most bankruptcy filings by amount of debt with a total of $7.9 billion

"So far this year, our firm has been engaged in more than three dozen energy industry out-of-court workouts or Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases," said Ian Peck, chair of the firm's Bankruptcy and Business Restructuring Section. "We expect our involvement will continue to expand as we advise clients in connection with additional energy restructuring matters that arise throughout the end of the year and into 2016."

Added Buddy Clark, head of the Haynes and Boone Energy Practice Group: "Even though we have one of the largest restructuring practices in the U.S. with more than 30 bankruptcy lawyers overall, including 12 in Houston, we are expecting to increase these numbers by drawing from the firm's lawyers in other sections affected by the downturn, especially our energy and finance practice groups. Activity is ramping up rapidly."

With the slump in commodity prices persisting into this fall, lawyers are closely following recent industry developments. Dozens of North American oil and gas producers have commenced Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases this year, including most recently, Escalara Resources Co., RAAM Global Energy Company, and Miller Energy Resources, Inc. Haynes and Boone plans on periodically updating the Monitor to help industry participants and clients keep pace with the dynamic changes in the energy industry.

The release of the Monitor comes on the heels of the firm's highly cited spring and fall Borrowing Base Redeterminations Survey. The fall edition of the survey showed that, as a result of slumping oil prices, key players in oil and gas financing were predicting a decrease in the ability to borrow against reserves by an average of 39 percent. Another survey will be released in mid-January in advance of next spring's redetermination season.

About Haynes and Boone
Haynes and Boone, LLP is an international corporate law firm with offices in Texas, New York, California, Chicago, Denver, Washington, D.C., Mexico City and Shanghai, providing a full spectrum of legal services in technology, financial services, energy and private equity. With more than 550 attorneys, Haynes and Boone is ranked among the largest law firms in the nation by The National Law Journal. The firm was named the 2015 Best National Firm for Diversity in North America in the Americas Women in Business Law Awards.