McKool Smith principal John Sparacino shared his expertise in bankruptcies filings with Business Insider’s article, “Some Cash-Strapped US Oil Companies Can't Even Afford Chapter 11 Bankruptcies. That Means They Have to Wait Things Out or Liquidate” In May, the oil price surged almost 90%; however, many upstream producers and oilfield-service companies are already in bad shape that they might not be able to afford Chapter 11 bankruptcy process.