U.S. judge approves Fieldwood’s plan to exit bankruptcy

A judge at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston has approved Fieldwood Energy’s prepackaged reorganization plan aimed at reducing the company’s debt by $1.6 billion and raising funds to take over Noble Energy’s deepwater Gulf of Mexico assets.

Fieldwood and its subsidiaries on February 15 filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas as part of a “prepackaged” chapter 11 case.

The oil company’s unique restructuring plan entails reducing debt by approximately $1.6 billion, raising capital of approximately $525 million through an equity rights offering, and acquiring all deepwater oil and gas assets of Noble Energy for a total value of $710 million.

The proceeds from the rights offering will be used to fund the acquisition, fund the costs and expenses of the Chapter 11 cases, and for general working capital after emergence from Chapter 11.

On February 16 the court scheduled a combined hearing to consider the approval of the company’s reorganization plan for April 2, 2018.

Come April 2 and the Bankruptcy Court held the confirmation hearing where Judge David R. Jones confirmed and approved Fieldwood’s reorganization plan.

All objections to confirmation of the plan have been withdrawn, waived, or otherwise resolved.

Offshore Energy Today has reached out to Fieldwood seeking comment and further details about the company’s next step in restructuring. 

Matt McCarroll, Fieldwood’s President and CEO, commented: “Our goal going into this process was to fix our leverage and liquidity issues while continuing to honor commitments to all of our business partners, vendors, employees, government agencies, and other stakeholders. The Plan of Reorganization confirmed by the Court yesterday achieves all of those objectives, and the fact that only 45 days elapsed from filing to confirmation is a testament to the incredible commitment and effort by all parties involved to achieve that result.”

Offshore Energy Today Staff