Record numbers of Texas companies are declaring bankruptcy, while the trend is shrinking for oil and gas companies in the state. 

Texas Oil & Gas Bankruptcies Lead Pack

649 businesses sought bankruptcy protection in Texas courts during the first half of 2017, an increase of 44% over the same period a year ago.

Many analysts believe the spike in total bankruptcies is a result of the oil patch problems of the last few of years. Ironically, oil and gas bankruptcies have slowed. The number of Texas oil and gas companies seeking debt relief decreased from 18 during the first four months of 2016 to four in 2017.

Haynes and Boone, LLP issued its latest report showing nine oil and gas producers filed bankruptcy from January-April 2017, down from 29 from the same period last year. The combined secured and unsecured debt represented in these filings totals approximately $44 billion. 

Since the beginning of 2015, bankruptcies from oil and gas producers spiked as the crude oil price crash took its toll. The total bankruptcies involved approximately $79.9 billion in debt, according to the law firm of Haynes and Boone, LLP. Their bankruptcy tracker also shows the aggregate debt from oilfield services bankruptcy cases in 2015-2017 is $25.9 billion and the average debt of these cases exceeds $203 million

Texas was hit specifically hard in 2016, with more than half (25) of the 2016 filing being initiated in Texas courts. The combined total Texas bankruptcy filings for 2015-17 is 50, almost 40% of the total number of 127 and representing approximately $29 billion in cumulative debt.