Ultra Petroleum talks Chapter 11 with creditors
May 5, 2020
According to reports, Ultra Petroleum is expected to file for Chapter 11 protection in bankruptcy court in the near future if they cannot reach an agreement with creditors on relief for their current debt load. This would be the second bankruptcy filing for the company in four years. A bankruptcy would pave the way for restructuring Ultra's debt, while reducing or eliminating the interests of investors who took control of the company when it restructured under chapter 11 in 2017. The company’s 2019 Annual Report on Form 10-K contained an explanatory paragraph regarding the substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern if they could not obtain relief from their current debt. The company’s announced plan for 2020 is to suspend drilling and focus on free cash flow generation.
Ultra suspended new drilling in their Pinedale area fields last September and has no new drilling underway due to multi-year extremely low gas prices. Its producing reserves and low base decline allows the company to generate substantial free cash flow for the foreseeable future, according to past reports. The company is one of the largest taxpayers in the state of Wyoming, and the reduced operations will have significant negative impacts on state and local tax revenue and employment.
Ultra Petroleum Corp. is an independent exploration and production company focused on producing and developing its long-life domestic natural gas and oil reserves in the Green River Basin of southwest Wyoming – the Pinedale and Jonah Fields. The Company is listed on OTCQX and trades under the ticker symbol "UPLC". Corporate headquarters for the company is in Englewood, Colorado.
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