More layoffs, pending backcruptcies, lessons from 2009 recovery, and more

Arena Energy, one of the largest offshore oil and gas companies operating in the Gulf of Mexico, has filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest casualty of the coronavirus-driven oil crash.

Law firm Haynes and Boone counted nearly 500 bankruptcies among oil and gas companies since 2015, with 60 so far this year, and 18 filings in July alone.

Buddy Clark, co-chairman for the firm’s energy practice, expects those bankruptcies to accelerate. His Dallas-based firm represents oil and gas clients in bankruptcy court, primarily creditors such as commercial banks and private equity firms.

About 150 more North American oil and gas producers are expected to file for bankruptcy through 2022 as long as oil prices stay mired around $40 a barrel, according to Rystad Energy.

Rystad sees 29 more Chapter 11 filings from North American producers with $26 billion of debt this year if West Texas Intermediate crude futures remain at $40, the industry consultant said in a note Friday. Another 68 are likely in 2021, followed by 57 the next year, Rystad said.

COVID-19 has disrupted the global economy in a truly unprecedented fashion. This unanticipated interruption to business-as-usual and the near-unstoppable momentum of the economic industry has given the world the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a breather, reevaluate, and redesign our pathway forward. The Global Economic Forum has advocated for using this unique moment to engineer and embrace a “new energy order” and a “great reset.” Europe has designed green stimulus packages that place clean energy at the heart of the continent’s post-corona economic recovery and European Big Oil is transitioning to being Big Energy.

Was avoiding a government bailout during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic such a good thing? It depends who you ask. When it comes to the aviation industry, rank-and-file workers seem to get the short end of the stick no matter what.