據世界石油6月29日休斯敦報道，隨著美國頁巖鉆探先驅切薩皮克能源公司(Chesapeake Energy)周日申請破產保護，頁巖氣的崩潰達到了一個嚴峻時刻。不過，切薩皮克只是一長串遭殃的企業中的最新的一家。

Haynes & Boone律師事務所5月份的一份報告顯示，自2015年初以來，已有超過200家北美油氣生產商申請破產，它們的債務超過1300億美元。僅今年一年，就有至少20家企業因疫情導致油價暴跌而倒閉。

10年前，由切薩皮克等公司引領的頁巖氣熱潮是由債務推動的。盈利能力和股東回報一直令人失望，在今年的石油危機之前，投資者已經對向頁巖油投入更多資金感到謹慎。惠譽評級(Fitch Ratings)在6月11日的一份報告中說，高收益能源債券的違約率為11%，為2017年4月以來的最高水平。

裘寅 編譯自 世界石油

原文如下：

Chesapeake joins more than 200 other bankrupt U.S. shale producers

The shale bust has reached a grim milestone by claiming the pioneer of America’s drilling renaissance. But Chesapeake Energy, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, is just the latest in a long list of casualties.

More than 200 North American oil and gas producers, owing over $130 billion in debt, have filed for bankruptcy since the beginning of 2015, according to a May report from law firm Haynes & Boone. This year alone, at least 20 have gone under after oil prices plunged amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The shale boom spearheaded by the likes of Chesapeake a decade ago was fueled by debt. Profitability and shareholder returns have been consistently disappointing, and investors had already grown wary of throwing more money into shale before this year’s oil crash. The rate of default on high-yield energy debt stood at 11%, Fitch Ratings said in a June 11 report, the highest level since April 2017.