Haynes and Boone Releases Borrowing Base Redeterminations Survey, Key Data in Energy Report

HOUSTON, Sept. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Haynes and Boone, LLP today released its Fall 2018 Energy Roundup, a comprehensive report on the industry that reflects an improved outlook for oil and gas producers.

The Energy Roundup includes the firm's latest "Borrowing Base Redeterminations Survey," which captures September polling of oil and gas producers, oilfield services companies, energy lenders, private equity firms, and other industry participants to get their predictions about producers' future borrowing capacity or "borrowing bases." Producers' loans are assessed by their lenders twice a year to determine how much credit will be available based upon the collateral value of the producers' property, referred to as their "borrowing bases." The borrowing bases turn on banks' projections about future prices for the producers' oil and gas reserves. The survey, which the firm has conducted twice a year since April 2015, offers a clear, forward-looking view about the projected financial state of the domestic energy market.

The latest borrowing base survey offers a bright outlook for oil and gas producers, with more than 78 percent of respondents expecting borrowing bases to increase. Further, 36 percent of respondents expect borrowing bases to increase by 20 percent or greater, a rate of optimism that is on par with the firm's spring 2018 borrowing base survey.

"The survey shows that optimism for the upstream oil and gas industry is really gaining momentum," said Kraig Grahmann, head of Haynes and Boone's Energy Finance Practice Group. "We have now had several recent surveys, including the fall 2018 survey, predicting that producers will see borrowing base increases of 10 to 20 percent."

The fall 2018 survey offers other key findings:

• Strong oil prices are leading borrowers to hedge oil prices. Two-thirds of respondents indicate that borrowers have locked in prices for the majority of their 2019 production
• Producers are expected to use cash flow from operations, bank debt, and private equity as their primary sources of capital in 2019
• Midstream capacity constraint was, by far, the most frequently cited concern by respondents, outranking concerns related to services costs and commodity price volatility.

"In prior years, producers were worried about a sudden drop in commodity prices or high costs of oilfield services," Grahmann said. "Now, when asked about the biggest challenge facing oil and gas industry participants, survey respondents were most concerned about midstream capacity constraints in transporting production to market."

SOURCE Haynes and Boone, LLP

Related Links

http://www.haynesboone.com