Moody'S

California’s refusal to allow San Diego Gas and Electric Co. (SDG&E) to recover from ratepayers millions of dollars related to wildfires a decade ago leaves other utilities susceptible to the even higher costs of more recent wildfires that have ravaged the state, Moody’s Investors Service said on Tuesday.

Moody’s Investors Service on Monday revised its price band higher for Henry Hub natural gas, the industry’s chief measure of prices, and maintained a medium-term price band of $40-60/bbl for oil.

Moody’s Investors Service has a more positive view of the oil and natural gas industry this year and has raised its outlook for the upstream and oilfield services (OFS) sectors.

Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday maintained its medium-term price band of $40-60/bbl for Brent and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the main oil-price benchmarks, and it reiterated a $2.00-3.50/MMBtu price for North American natural gas at Henry Hub, the industry’s chief measure of gas prices.

Moody’s Ratings Service has assigned an “Aa2” rating, its third highest, to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) for its planned $500 million revenue bond sale in February. The rating recognizes “strong supportiveness” by Los Angeles elected officials for the nation’s largest municipal (muni) utility, which is shifting from a reliance on out-of-state coal-fired generation sources to more natural gas- and renewable-based power sources. Moody’s said the rating recognizes the benefit of LADWP’s size, “diverse and competitive power supply,” and ownership and operation of a transmission network that amounts to 25% of California’s grid. LADWP has long owned its gas reserves through a purchase it led with other Southern California munis a decade ago.

The trailing 12-month global speculative-grade default rate declined slightly to end the third quarter at 4.5%, with the stabilization of oil prices helping to stop the bleeding, according to a report issued Tuesday by Moody’s Investors Service.

The oil and natural gas bust beginning in 2015 was worse than many thought, fueling a spike in the U.S. default rate that rivaled the telecom industry collapse in the early 2000s, both in recorded bankruptcies and low creditor recoveries, Moody’s Investor Service said.

A hotter than normal summer hasn’t led to a corresponding increase in power prices, with cheap and abundant natural gas putting downward pressure on the electric market, according to a report published Monday by Moody’s Investors Service.

One month after scuttling their planned merger, Baker Hughes Inc. and Halliburton Co. were dealt another setback on Friday after Moody’s Investors Service downgraded their credit ratings.