美国水力压裂行业可能很快将面临倒闭潮

    水力压裂行业的末日可能终于到了。

    一年来，尽管油价大幅下跌，但能源行业破产的公司一直较少。然而，这种情况可能即将改变。咨询机构ISI Evercore能源行业分析师詹姆斯·韦斯特指出，连续数月的低开工量已经让许多水力压裂公司要么已经资不抵债，要么也快了。他预计，到明年底，可能会有多达三分之一的水力压裂服务公司破产。

    韦斯特说：“石油业的这个假期并不美好。”

    到目前为止，油气开采企业的支出水平虽有所回落，但它们仍在按照一年前制定的预算来投入资金，而一年前的油价要高的多。维斯特认为，如今油价对油气开采公司形成倒逼，这些公司也许很快就得大幅削减服务支出，而银行将成为催化剂。

    当初银行向这些油气公司发放贷款时，依据的是后者的储量价值。但对这一数值的审计只在每年10月份进行一次。考虑到一年来油价下跌的幅度，许多分析师都认为下个月银行愿意发放给油气公司的贷款将急剧减少。由于担心银行可能蒙受损失，监管部门最近已经开始向其施压，要求它们减少对油气行业放贷。

    9月25日，信用评级机构标普称其问题贷款率，也就是投资者担心可能无力偿债的公司借款人所占的百分比，已经达到2011年以来的最高点。在270名问题借款人中，有95名来自油气行业，占比最大。

    大多数面临倒闭厄运的水力压裂公司都较小，但一些规模较大的压裂服务供应商也开始受到上述问题的影响。标普列出的问题借款人就包括Linn Energy，这家油气勘探公司设在休斯顿，市值达10亿美元，有近2000名员工。过去一年中，Linn Energy的股价已经下跌90%。标普指出，该公司的问题债务余额接近60亿美元。

    同时，标普的名单中还有Basic Energy Services和Seventy Seven Energy两大上市压裂服务商的身影。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    Doomsday may finally be coming to the fracking industry.

    Despite the big drop in oil prices in the past year, there have been relatively few bankruptcies in the energy industry. That may be about to change. James West, an energy industry analyst at ISI Evercore, says months of low activity have left many of the companies in the hydraulic-fracturing business either insolvent or close to it. He says as many as a third of the fracking companies could go bust by the end of next year.

    “This holiday will not be a time of cheer in the oil patch,” says West.

    So far oil and gas exploration companies, while cutting back somewhat, have continued to spend based on budgets set a year ago when oil prices were much higher. But now West says the price of oil is catching up to them, and they may soon have to drastically cut back their spending on services. The catalyst is the banks.

    Banks lend to oil exploration companies based on the value of their reserves. But they only audit the value of those reserves every October. Given how much oil prices have tumbled in the past year, many analysts expect banks to greatly reduce in the next month how much they are willing to lend to oil and gas companies. Regulators, worried banks may face losses, have recently been pressuring banks to cut back their lending to oil and gas companies.

    On Friday, credit ratings firm Standard & Poors reported that its distressed ratio, which measures the percentage of corporate borrowers that investors appear nervous may not be able to pay back their debt, had reached the highest level since 2011. The oil and gas sector accounted for the largest number of the distressed borrowers, 95 out of 270.

    Most of the fracking firms that face extinction are relatively small. But the problems are starting to affect some of the bigger companies in the industry. On S&P’s list of distressed borrowers is Linn Energy, a $1 billion market cap oil and gas exploration company based in Houston. It has nearly 2,000 employees. Shares of Linn LINE -4.71% have dropped 90% in the past year. S&P says the company has nearly $6 billion in outstanding distressed debt.

    Also on S&P’s list are publicly traded fracking companies Basic Energy Services BAS -5.40% and Seventy Seven Energy SSE 3.37% .