Hogan Lovells Publications | 15 June 2020
Navigating distress and insolvency in the oil and gas industry
Following the success of our three-part webinar series produced together with Houlihan Lokey in Spring 2020, we have developed reports summarizing how companies and investors can better navigate distress and insolvency in the oil and gas industry.
The transaction involved the restructuring of certain loan facilities via creditors' schemes of arrangement (Schemes). Prior to implementation, the Schemes terminated automatically by their terms as certain required payments had not been made by the relevant condition precedent satisfaction date.
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.
Hogan Lovells Publications | 29 May 2020
Implications of COVID-19 on the Australian Mining Industry
1. Which financial (not tax or labour) short-term compensation schemes for immediate losses due to social distancing measures have been implemented? For which industries/sizes of business?
Deferred Loan Repayment
2020 has seen a significant increase in chapter 11 filings by oil and gas producers. Critical to the operations of these companies, and to the transportation and processing of the producer’s gas, are gathering agreements entered into between the producers and midstream companies. A pivotal question posed at the start of these chapter 11 proceedings is whether the gathering agreements are executory contracts subject to rejection or whether they create real property interests that cannot be rejected in chapter 11 proceedings. The answer depends on who you ask.
Over the past four years, midstream firms have struggled to adapt their long-standing practices and adjust their long-held expectations, which were fundamentally disrupted by the outcome of the landmark bankruptcy case, In re Sabine Oil & Gas. Midstream providers have since developed and relied on certain mechanisms and carefully drafted contract language in order to bind upstream companies and their successors in interest to obligations and restrictions contained of midstream agreements.
On October 28, 2020, FERC declined to abrogate or modify firm natural gas transportation service agreements (“Gulfport TSAs”) between Gulfport Energy Corporation (“Gulfport”) and Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (“Rockies Express”) in response to a Rockies Express petition anticipating a potential Gulfport bankruptcy filing. After an expedited paper hearing, FERC concluded that the public interest does not presently require any modification, and thus, that the Gulfport TSAs on file remain just and reasonable.
It is common for E&P companies in chapter 11 to seek to reject burdensome midstream contracts under Bankruptcy Code § 365. Rejection has not been permitted by bankruptcy courts where such agreements create enforceable covenants running with the land (“CRWL”) because a CRWL is a real property interest of the midstream gatherer, not just a contract right. Accordingly, before a debtor can seek to reject midstream agreements, the bankruptcy court must first determine whether an enforceable CRWL exists.
As predicted in Holland & Knight's Energy and Natural Resources Blog post on March 16, 2020, "Midstream Providers Can Prepare for the Next Wave of Restructurings," the dual impact of a COVID-19 demand slump and market pricing pressures would lead to a host of bankruptcy filings by exploration and production (E&P) companies.