Offshore oil companies are on the road to bankruptcy



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Although oil prices have risen and operating costs are declining, it is not fast enough to make offshore drilling profitable.

It was a blow for the companies that built and manage deepwater platforms as well as service companies whose vessels carry oil and pbadengers to and from platforms.

He also damaged his balance sheets, with debt levels that have reached unsustainable levels, according to the company. Restructuring AlixPartners.

Larger companies, such as Tidewater Inc., have been working to clean up their balance sheets and are likely to be doing well for the next two years. Jeff Drake, managing director of AlixPartners in London, however, believes that the activity is saturated with too many competitors, generating an oversupply of between 25% and 30% of the refueling ships at sea.

an improvement of this short-term imbalance, while the besieged owners refuse to put their ships out of service, Drake said.

It is true that the profits of some major drilling companies have improved with oil close to $ 70. the barrel. But "much of this improvement from the big oil companies is due to the removal of costs from their suppliers," Drake said.

"The actors of the sector strike themselves, mainly to make a living".

] Offshore oil field contracts were among the most affected by the industry crisis. According to Morgan Stanley, explorers have cut global offshore spending by more than half since 2014.

The first improvement is expected next year after the start of the worst oil crisis of the current generation. According to a report recently released by AlixPartners, it expects its expenses will increase by less than 1% to reach 131,000 million US dollars.

This means that about 90% of offshore vessel operators may go bankrupt in the next 12 months.

According to the firm, the offshore sector presents a clear advantage for major players who have already restructured their balance sheets and have better and more recent equipment.

"This is a very harsh environment for offshore service vessels," said Mons Aase, managing director of the Norwegian company Dof ASA, which operates a fleet of 67 vessels.

DOF was able to maintain its utilization rate at about 76%, above the industry average of less than 50%, due to the accumulation of high value orders, Aase by phone.

They have a global business that allows them to maintain a large fleet of vessels and change the strategy for better markets, he said. Dof was able to refinance part of its debt of NOK 18,500 million (US $ 2,300 million early this year to finance ships), but "it is not viable if the market does not not recover in a few years, "said Aase. 19659015] The impact of shale

Since offshore services companies generally lag behind their counterparts in terrestrial services, the debt issued by these companies performed better this year, as investors buy their debt. Higher performance, according to Spencer Cutter, Bloomberg Intelligence's Energy Analyst.

"The offshore segment has not been able to participate in the recovery due to the growth of land-based production of shale producers," said Matt Kennedy. , High Yield Portfolio Manager at Angel Oak Capital Advisors, Avoiding Offshore Energy Companies

Small Window [19659] 016] Small Offshore Boat Operators Do not Have a Lot of Time to Repair Their Finances said Drake. The leverage for the general segment is 23.9 times the ratio between debt and profits, and it is imperative not to deleverage it, he said. Every day, said Cutter.

But small businesses that have not been able to access capital markets to finance new vessels will be left behind, he added. According to AlixPartners, approximately 25% of the current fleet of offshore supply vessels is over 15 years old.

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