美国页岩先驱切萨皮克加入破产行列

据世界石油6月29日休斯敦报道，随着美国页岩钻探先驱切萨皮克能源公司(Chesapeake Energy)周日申请破产保护，页岩气的崩溃达到了一个严峻时刻。不过，切萨皮克只是一长串遭殃的企业中的最新的一家。

Haynes & Boone律师事务所5月份的一份报告显示，自2015年初以来，已有超过200家北美油气生产商申请破产，它们的债务超过1300亿美元。仅今年一年，就有至少20家企业因疫情导致油价暴跌而倒闭。

10年前，由切萨皮克等公司引领的页岩气热潮是由债务推动的。盈利能力和股东回报一直令人失望，在今年的石油危机之前，投资者已经对向页岩油投入更多资金感到谨慎。惠誉评级(Fitch Ratings)在6月11日的一份报告中说，高收益能源债券的违约率为11%，为2017年4月以来的最高水平。

裘寅 编译自 世界石油

原文如下：

Chesapeake joins more than 200 other bankrupt U.S. shale producers

The shale bust has reached a grim milestone by claiming the pioneer of America’s drilling renaissance. But Chesapeake Energy, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, is just the latest in a long list of casualties.

More than 200 North American oil and gas producers, owing over $130 billion in debt, have filed for bankruptcy since the beginning of 2015, according to a May report from law firm Haynes & Boone. This year alone, at least 20 have gone under after oil prices plunged amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The shale boom spearheaded by the likes of Chesapeake a decade ago was fueled by debt. Profitability and shareholder returns have been consistently disappointing, and investors had already grown wary of throwing more money into shale before this year’s oil crash. The rate of default on high-yield energy debt stood at 11%, Fitch Ratings said in a June 11 report, the highest level since April 2017.