Earlier this year, PG&E Corporation and its utility subsidiary, Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), filed the largest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history, and the sixth-largest corporate bankruptcy ever. As we previously noted, a crucial issue in this case was whether the U.S.

PG&E Corporation and its utility subsidiary Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) recently filed the largest utility bankruptcy in U.S. history, and the sixth-largest corporate bankruptcy ever.

PG&E Corporation has announced that it and its subsidiary, Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), California’s largest electric utility, will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California on or about Jan. 29, 2019. PG&E stated it will file bankruptcy in response to challenges relating to the catastrophic wildfires that occurred in Northern California in 2017 and 2018, which resulted in an estimated $30 billion in potential liability damages.

Yes, Gathering Agreements Can Be Rejected as Executory Contracts (At Least Under One Court’s Interpretation of Texas Law)

On October 31, 2014, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit interpreted Maryland law in ruling that a bank’s security interest in a Chapter 11 debtor’s property created by a deed of trust that was executed before, but recorded after, the Internal Revenue Service filed a tax lien, had priority over the tax lien.

Background

Can Gathering Agreements Be Rejected as Executory Contracts?

In 2015, the energy sector accounted for more than one-half of all public company bankruptcy filings, including eight of the 10 largest filings. Current oil prices and bond values indicate that 2016 will be another active year. As of late January 2016, crude oil prices hovered around $30 per barrel. These low prices are reflected in the bond market, where in December 2015, approximately $80 billion in non-defaulted oil and gas debt was trading below 50 cents on the dollar.