Bankruptcy looms over U.S. energy industry, from oil fields to pipelines - Reuters

Bankruptcy looms over U.S. energy industry, from oil fields to pipelines - Reuters:

U.S. shale producers, refiners and pipeline companies are scrambling for cash and face likely restructuring as they struggle under heavy debt loads while engulfed in the worst crisis the oil industry has faced.

Fuel demand has tumbled roughly 30% worldwide as the coronavirus pandemic destroys demand for transport, provoking a massive glut of oil that has hammered global prices and left energy companies with no choice but to pump hundreds of millions of barrels into storage.

Just as demand plummeted, Saudi Arabia and Russia started an oil price war, and Riyadh flooded the market with even more crude. That left the oil industry facing the prospect of a long period with prices below their production costs. 


Shale producers came into the crisis with already high debt levels, namely from big investments to increase production across the United States in a bet on higher prices.