Oasis Petroleum entered into a restructuring support agreement with substantially all of its lenders for its revolving credit facility and holders of 52% of the aggregate principal amount of its bonds on a comprehensive “pre-prepackaged” restructuring plan to strengthen the company’s balance sheet and reduce its debt.
To implement the plan, Oasis Petroleum and certain of its affiliates filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Through this financial restructuring, Oasis Petroleum intends to reduce its total indebtedness by $1.8 billion, representing 100% of its senior unsecured notes and senior unsecured convertible notes. Upon emergence, Oasis Petroleum expects to have approximately $340 million of borrowings under its credit facility. It is expected that the restructuring process will be completed on an accelerated time frame, allowing for an emergence in November 2020, subject to court approval.
Oasis Midstream Partners, an independent legal entity operated as a master limited partnership, and all subsidiaries in which it owns an equity interest are not included in Oasis Petroleum’s Chapter 11 proceedings.
In light of a volatile market environment that drove a severe downturn in oil and gas prices, as well as the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Oasis Petroleum engaged with its lenders and an ad hoc committee of noteholders regarding restructuring alternatives to reduce debt, increase financial flexibility and position the business for the long-term. After a review, Oasis Petroleum determined that implementing a restructuring plan through a controlled, court-supervised restructuring was the right path forward. Throughout the financial restructuring process, Oasis Petroleum’s upstream operations and production and Oasis Midstream Partners’ operations are expected to continue as normal.
“Oasis Petroleum is a great company with high-quality assets and employees and a well-earned reputation for excellence in environmental stewardship, safety and governance,” Thomas B. Nusz, chairman and CEO of Oasis Petroleum, said. “However, due to historically low global energy demand and commodity prices, we determined that it is best for Oasis Petroleum to take decisive action to strengthen our liquidity and overcome the headwinds now challenging both our company and industry. We are confident that we are taking the right steps to position the business for long-term success. We thank our lenders and noteholders for their support, which reflects their confidence in our business and our team, and which will allow us to move quickly through the court-supervised process.
“We remain committed to the highest standards as it relates to environmental stewardship, safety and operational excellence. We expect to continue our operations as normal and intend to meet our obligations to vendors, and to continue making payments to royalty owners, working interest owners and surface owners on a go-forward basis. We appreciate the support of our financial stakeholders and look forward to quickly emerging from this process as an even stronger company.”
Oasis Petroleum intends to file customary motions with the court to support ongoing operations without interruption, including the payment of employee wages and benefits and paying royalty interest owners, working interest owners and surface owners, in the ordinary course. In addition, vendors and suppliers are expected to be paid in full, and Oasis Petroleum intends to seek court approval to pay vendors for all goods and services provided on or after the Chapter 11 filing date in the ordinary course of business. Under terms of the “pre-packaged” plan, which is subject to court approval, general unsecured pre-petition claims also will be paid in full upon the company’s emergence from Chapter 11.
In connection with the RSA, and subject to court approval, Oasis Petroleum received a commitment for $450 million in debtor-in-possession financing from its existing lenders.
Upon court approval, the new financing, along with cash generated from Oasis Petroluem’s ongoing operations, is expected to provide sufficient liquidity for the company to continue operating in the ordinary course during the court-supervised process.
Additionally, Oasis Petroleum entered into a commitment letter for an exit revolving credit facility with borrowing capacity up to $575 million.
Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. and Perella Weinberg Partners are acting as financial advisors for Oasis Petroleum, while Kirkland & Ellis is acting as legal advisor and AlixPartners is acting as restructuring advisor.
Evercore is acting as financial advisor and Paul, Weiss, Rikind, Wharton & Garrison and Porter Hedges are acting as legal advisors to the ad hoc committee of senior noteholders.
Oasis Petroleum is an independent exploration and production company focused on the acquisition and development of onshore, unconventional crude oil and natural gas resources in the United States.
