Oil and natural gas explorer Linn Energy LLC, whose stock has fallen 96 percent in two years, is exploring “strategic alternatives” to strengthen its balance sheet while dealing with the worst crude market downturn in 30 years.
Linn recently borrowed about $919 million, exhausting the amount available to it under a $3.6 billion credit facility loan, the Houston-based company said in a statement Thursday. Its Berry Petroleum Co. LLC unit is also fully using its $900 million credit facility.
The company’s reviewing its options to ensure “adequate financial flexibility to manage through prolonged commodity price headwinds,” it said in the statement.
The collapse in oil prices has forced energy companies to slash more than $100 billion in spending globally and eliminate more than 250,000 jobs last year. More cuts are expected in 2016 with crude futures down 35 percent in the past year.
Linn has hired Lazard as its financial adviser and Kirkland & Ellis LLP for legal advice on the review, according to the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: David Wethe in Houston at dwethe@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net Jeffrey Taylor
