E&Ps

With a “staggering level” of debt maturing in the 2020-2024 time frame and limited access to credit, North America’s exploration and production (E&P) companies, particularly natural gas-focused operators, face an increased risk of default, according to new research from Moody’s Investors Service.

U.S. shale and tight oil production is forecast to slow in 2020 before flattening out in 2021, according to IHS Markit research.

Financial adversity has continued to dog Lower 48 operators this year, with more voluntary restructurings, but the bankruptcies aren’t a harbinger of doom, according to Rystad Energy research.

Consolidation, capital discipline and natural gas prices in the Permian Basin are likely to be high on the list of investor queries during the first quarter conference calls, as the earnings season begins in earnest.

Global oil and gas capital spending had been on the rise for two straight years, but the collapse in oil prices late last year puts a kibosh on a “massive escalation” in expenditures anytime soon, according to Raymond James & Associates Inc.

U.S. publicly traded producers appear to be embracing the “Shale 2.0” mantra of spending discipline and shareholder returns, with capital spending trending down from 2018, according to analysts.

North American exploration spending in 2019 is tracking higher for the third consecutive year, albeit at a slower pace, with natural gas-heavy budgets poised to reset higher, while oil operators weigh the implications of extended lower prices.

The outlook is bright for the U.S. oil and gas producers, based on a survey about borrowing base redeterminations by Haynes and Boone LLP.

The global oil and gas industry has begun its second year of recovery, but capital spending only climbed last year by about half as much as originally budgeted, and it is poised to surge this year, according to a survey by Raymond James & Associates Inc.