The falling oil price could be about to trigger one of the biggest ever waves of bankruptcies in the US
The oil price slump could be pushing the US to one of its biggest waves of bankruptcies.
This week Midstates Petroleum and Ultra Petroleum went under, pushing the total number of energy sector bankruptcies to 59 since the beginning of the oil rout, according to Reuters data, the law firm Haynes & Boone and bankruptcydata.com.
The avalanche of bankruptcies is closing in on the whopping 68 filings seen in the US following the telecom bust of 2001.
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Though energy firms have been battling against low oil prices for almost two years now, a sudden spike in bankruptcies has been put down to banks withdrawing credit over fears the oil price will fail to pick up.
Last month US coal giant Peabody Energy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Missouri in April, sending shock waves through the industry.
Oil has rebounded since the beginning of the year, previously falling as low as $27 per barrel. International Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate have climbed to around $45per barrel on the back of slowing production in the US and the prospect of a pick up in demand in the second half of the year.
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The Dow Jones US Oil and Gas Index, which tracks around 80 stocks, has found $1.02 trillion (£700bn) has been wiped from the valuations of US energy companies since oil began its 60 per cent slide from mid-2014.