Ultra

Continuing low commodity prices and a combined $5.8 billion in debt have forced two independent exploration and production companies (E&P) with holdings in several shale plays, Midstates Petroleum Co. Inc. and Ultra Petroleum Corp., to voluntarily file separate motions for bankruptcy protection.

Continuing low commodity prices and a combined $5.8 billion in debt have forced two independent exploration and production companies (E&P) with holdings in several shale plays, Midstates Petroleum Co. Inc. and Ultra Petroleum Corp., to voluntarily file separate motions for bankruptcy protection.

Rockies Express Pipeline LLC (REX) has terminated its firm transportation service agreement with Ultra Resources Inc. due to a missed payment and failure to provide adequate credit support, the pipeline told FERC Monday.

Executives with Ultra Petroleum Corp. said the company has so far been unable to obtain relief on debt covenants from several of its creditors. It is working on forbearance agreements with some of them to allow more time to restructure its debt — all unsecured — which currently stands at $3.76 billion.

Ultra Petroleum Corp. is targeting an asset sale by year’s end as the Houston-based exploration and production (E&P) company looks to reduce its debt and continue focusing production on its Pinedale Anticline in the Green River Basin of Wyoming.

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania has ruled in favor of Ultra Resources Inc. after a long-running case in which an environmental advocacy group challenged state permits for eight of the company’s compressor stations and said they failed to meet federal pollution standards.

Ultra Petroleum Corp. nearly tripled its annual oil production in 2014, and it plans to continue focusing on Wyoming’s Pinedale Anticline with a capital expenditure (capex) budget trimmed by more than two-thirds to $460 million.

Royal Dutch Shell plc on Thursday announced two more agreements in a bid to restructure its North American portfolio and realign its shale operations with the divestiture of 126,000 net acres in North Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale and the Pinedale Anticline of Wyoming.

Ultra Petroleum Corp. ramped up production of crude oil and condensate during the first quarter, keeping its sights trained on oil targets in Wyoming’s Pinedale Anticline and Utah’s Uinta Basin while continuing to spin down its activity in the Marcellus Shale.