The Worst May Be Over For U.S. Oil

More than 40 oil and gas companies in the United States filed for bankruptcy protection in the first eleven months of this year, according to Haynes & Boone’s latest report. Their cumulative debt load is $24.732 billion. And yet, things in the U.S. oil patch may not be as bad as the number of bankruptcies might suggest. Bloomberg Intelligence recently reported the value of oil and gas bonds trading at a distressed level in mid-March totaled $144 billion. By the end of November, this was down to $37 billion. And analysts expect a lot fewer…