American Eagle Energy is the latest oil-related bankruptcy
In March, the company missed its first interest payment of nearly $10 million to bondholders, and entered a 30-day grace period. American Eagle hired financial advisers to negotiate with bondholders.
And according to the Wall Street Journal's Patrick Fitzgerald, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in a Denver court, listing assets of $221.9 million and debts of $215.2 million.
In a quarterly filing last Friday, the company noted (emphasis added):
"The sharp decline in oil prices that occurred during the latter part of 2014, and the continued depressed pricing, has materially reduced the revenues that were generated from the sale of the Company's oil and gas production volumes during that period, which, in turn, negatively affected the Company's year-end working capital balance. The potential for future oil prices to remain at their current price levels for an extended period of time raises substantial doubt regarding the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. For purposes of this discussion, the term "substantial doubt" refers to concerns that a company may not be able to meet its obligations when they come due."
A Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing gives the company time to restructure its debt without completely stopping all operations.
The company had sold $175 million of bonds last August, when West Texas Intermediate crude oil was priced near $100 per barrel, according to Bloomberg.
But the tumble in the oil crash has punished oil companies that borrowed at the peak of the shale boom. In November, American Eagle Energy announced it would stop drilling oil until prices rebounded.
Quicksilver Resources also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March, listing $2.35 billion in debt.